The Paintings of Karipbek Kuyukov an Extraordinary Man

 

Karipbek Kuyukov

Photos by Nikki Artale

The paintings of Karipbek Kuyukov express the pain that nuclear weapons bring. At a young age he began painting using his mouth and legs to tell the story of his opposition of nuclear testing and also his love of nature.

 

Karipbek Kuyukov is a renowned painter working in Karaganda, Kazakhstan and a global anti-nuclear weapons activist. He is the honorary Ambasssador of the Atom Project. The Atom project (Abolish Testing. Our Mission) is an international petition campaign to mobilize global public opinion against nuclear weapons. www.theatomproject.org Mr. Kuyukov is a victim of decades of nuclear weapons testing by the Soviet Union in Eastern Kazakhsta. He was born in 1968 in the Karaganda region, 54 miles from the test site, and he was born without arms.

Salwa Kader Karipbek Kuyukov Nikki Artale

This nuclear evil destroyed the lives and health of more than 1.5 million people between 1949 and 1991, in the area of the test sites, and are still being felt today. On 9/16/13 I was invited to attend the reception at the United Nations by Salwa Sally Kader, President of the US Federation for Middle East Peace USFMEP, to hear Mr. Kuyukov speak and view his paintings which were inspirational.

United Nations New York

I leave you with a quote from the Honorable Atom Project Ambassador Karipbek Kuyukov “Many of the people in my life have died from the radiation from the nuclear tests. In one family, first the father then the mother then all the children passed away-the whole family of 10. I myself have no arms to hug you, but I have a heart as big as the open space of Kazakhstan ready to embrace the world for peace and nuclear disarmament”

 

We must take actions to end nuclear weapons.