THE ART OF GRAPHIC SYMBOLISM IN THE TRADITIONAL CRAFTS OF KABARDINO-BALKARIA
The article considers the sociocultural dimension of graphic symbolism as a creative component of folk craft practice in the traditional culture of Kabardino-Balkaria. The methodological basis of the research is cultural and historical theories, art history concepts. As a result of the research, a complex of ideas about the Kabardians’ and the Balkars’ main visual practices, manifested via a system of visual graphic symbols, has been formed. It is well known that the first forms of graphic symbolism appeared in primitive society and subsequently developed in the religions of ancient Egypt, Assyria, Greece, Rome, etc. as a decorative ornament that performed cult, magical, and semantic functions. Graphic symbols were the reason for the emergence of writing, art, education, and they are still associated with the modern worldview as a way to achieve the latest ethnocultural meanings and values. In this regard, the relevance of the research is the search for the origins of figurative systems of traditional pictorial forms in graphic symbolism; these forms are viewed as representations, ideas and phenomena associated with the understanding of the basic components of the traditional culture of Kabardino-Balkaria. The theoretical and methodological basis of the research is works of the authors of the North Caucasus academic school on decorative and applied art of the Adyghe (B.Kh. Malbakhov, M.N. Gubzhokov, A.S. Kishev, N.G. Lovpache), folk art of the Balkars and the Karachays (A.Ya. Kuznetsova, M.Ch. Kudaev), historical and cultural heritage in Kabardino-Balkaria (O.L. Opryshko, V.K. Gardanov, G.D. Bazieva, G.Kh. Mambetov). Developments of scholars in the field of philosophy of spiritual problems of symbolic forms, classification and theory of semiotics (E. Cassirer, Yu.M. Lotman, A.F. Losev, P.A. Florensky) have also been used. The research aims to analyze the expressive forms of graphic symbols in the traditional culture of Kabardino-Balkaria on the example of the main types of folk craft art: ornamental decoration, making tamgas and jewelry, weaving mats (argens), felting wool carpets (kiyiz). The object of the study is a graphic symbol as an abstract art form in the traditional culture of Kabardino-Balkaria. The novelty of the research consists in the fact that the definition of graphic symbols in the traditional craft culture of Kabardino-Balkaria is considered and generalized, and their essential characteristics are revealed. The results of the comprehensive research allow stating that the oldest language of graphic symbolism contains a code artistic image that is passed on from generation to generation through the creative system of traditional folk crafts.