Rustam Ibragimbekov. Baku, Azerbaijan, 2023

The monument to writer, playwright, and film director Rustam Ibragimbekov (1939–2022), unveiled in the Azerbaijani capital Baku in 2023, is unlike most of Aidyn Zeinalov’s other pieces. The portrait of the writer is a “three-dimensional relief” – both transparent and tangible. A tomb effigy, it is quite a small monument, whose design represents the vision of Ibragimbekov’s son and daughter. Ibragimbekov’s screenwriting credits include films such as White Sun of the Desert, Oscar-nominated East/West, The Barber of Siberia, and Oscar-winning Burnt by the Sun. On a large scroll of paper, on which the writer’s hands rest, his words are inscribed in Azerbaijani: “Every life is a defeat because it ends in death, but the ability to accept life and find joy in it is a great talent.”