Амурский тигр в городских арт-объектах

Abstract

Amur tigers live in Russian Far East, Northeast China, and the border between China and Russia. It was once listed on the Red List because of the decline in population, but it is not the endangered species now thanks to the active efforts of animal protection groups and scholars in Russia. In the Russian Far East, Amur tigers are not simply endangered species, but are a symbol of their region. In the coats of arms of Vladivostok, one of the centers of Russian Far East, the symbol of tiger has existed since the late nineteenth century. In addition, it gets attention as an art object of the region in modern times. Now this study tracked the years of appearance of statues and street art of tiger symbols in Vladivostok and found 21 tiger images in 17 places from 1992 to present. Tigers existed as a part of natural ones until the Soviet period. But after the collapse of the Soviet era, it has become the symbol of the Vladivostok and the regions of Russian Far East. While getting out of Soviet system, the socialist ideological symbol of Vladivostok was replaced by the natural symbol of Amur Tiger. Tigers thus contributed to the consolidation of societies and cultural identities as a common denominator of the original Far Eastern people and the Russians who emigrated. The conservation of tiger populations is also directly linked to the ecosystem balance, which guarantees the living space for the humans. Thus, the Amur tiger is a symbol of Far Eastern Russia's biodiversity and continues its role as a beauty of nature. It is anticipated that they will continue to produce the works of the Amur tigers and create additional cultural events in Russian Far East including Vladivostok.