Discovering the land of our origin

Following Thor Heyerdahl’s footstep to Azerbaijan

Bølgen Kulturhuset, Larvik, July 1st – July 30th 2021

A cultural bridge building traveling exhibition by CAN

From July 1th – July 30th 2021, you can visit the traveling exhibition “Discovering the Land of Our Origin, following Thor Heyerdahl’s footsteps to Azerbaijan” at The Cultural Center Bølgen in Larvik.

The project is inspired by the runes found in Turkey, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, and the beautiful friendship between Thor Heyerdahl
and Heydar Aliyev, which started in August 1981.
Their friendships inspired us to find the similarities between the two nations.

En kulturell brobyggings vandreutstilling av CAN

Fra 1 juli – 30 juli 2021 kan du besøke vandreutstillingen «Discovering the land of our origin, following Thor Heyerdahl’s footsteps to Azerbaijan» på Bølgen Kulturhuset i Larvik.

Prosjektet er inspirert av runene som finnes i Tyrkia, Aserbajdsjan, Kasakhstan, Usbekistan og Turkmenistan,
og det vakre vennskapet mellom Thor Heyerdahl
og Heydar Aliyev, som startet i august 1981.
Deres vennskapet inspirerte oss til å finne likhetene
mellom de to nasjonene.

As a creative team from Norway, the chairwoman of CAN and fashion designer Shervin Najafpour traveled down to Azerbaijan in 2019 to follow in the footsteps of Thor Heyerdahl, with Norwegian blogger Jeanette Elise Hildebrant and Creative Art Director
and photographer Edmond Yang.

Opplev Aserbajdsjan gjennom vårt unike Som et kreativt team fra Norge reiste organisasjonslederen av CAN og klesdesigner Shervin Najafpour ned til Aserbajdsjan i 2019 for å følge i fotsporene
til Thor Heyerdahl, med den norske bloggeren Jeanette Elise Hildebrant og Creative Art Director og fotograf Edmond Yang.

The project is supported by: / Prosjektet støttes av:

Official Media partners: / Offisielle Mediepartnere:

Print, design, photo and video partners: / Print, design, foto og video partnere:

“Borders? I have never seen one. But I have heard they exist in the minds of some people.”

— Thor Heyerdahl

“Grenser? Jeg har aldri sett en, men jeg har hørt at de eksisterer i tankene til noen mennesker.”

Following Thor Heyerdahl’s footsteps to Azerbaijan

Follow the footsteps of Thor Heyerdahl to Azerbaijan to find the similarities between the two nations. The project is inspired by the beautiful friendship between Thor Heyerdahl and Heydar Aliyev, which started in August 1981. Their friendships inspired us to find the similarities between the two nations.

Følg Thor Heyerdahls fotspor til Aserbajdsjan

Følg fotsporene til Thor Heyerdahl til Aserbajdsjan for å finne likhetene mellom de to nasjonene. Prosjektet er inspirert av det vakre vennskapet mellom Thor Heyerdahl og Heydar Aliyev, som startet i august 1981. Vennskapet deres inspirerte oss til å finne likhetene mellom de to nasjonene.

Thor Heyerdahl

Born: October 6th 1914 – Died: April 18th 2002

Born in Larvik, Norway. Thor Heyerdahl was a Norwegian adventurer and ethnographer with a background in zoology, botany and geography.
He was the happy Larvik boy who conquered the world, without ever forgetting where he came from.

Født: 6. oktober 1914 – Døde: 18. april 2002
Født i Larvik, Norge. Thor Heyerdahl var en eksperimentell arkeolog, forfatter og eventyrer.
Han var den glade larviksgutten som erobret verden, uten noen gang å glemme hvor han kom fra.

Heydar Aliyev

Born: May 10th 1923 – Died: December 12th 2003

Born in Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic of Azerbaijan.
Heydar Aliyev was the very leader who created the modern history of Azerbaijan, becoming a true legend of his time.

Født: 10. mai 1923 – Døde: 12. desember 2003
Født i Nakhchivan, den autonome republikken av Aserbajdsjan.
Heydar Aliyev var selve lederen som skapte Aserbajdsjans moderne historie og ble en sann legende av sin tid.

Thor Heyerdahl and his wife Jacqueline Beer in Gobustan
1994

Thor Heyerdahl and Heydar Aliyev at Kon-Tiki museum in Oslo in 1996

Thor Heyerdahl in Ateshgah outside of Baku
1994

Thor Heyerdahl with PhD, Professor at Baku State University
Guivami Rahimli – 2000

Thor Heyerdahl and his wife Jacqueline Beer with PhD, Professor at Baku State University Guivami Rahimli – 2000

Thor Heyerdahl‘s Search for Odin

After studying the Gobustan petroglyphs, Thor Heyerdahl discovered the similarity of the ships depicted on the rocks to the vessels used by the Vikings, and concluded that the Vikings had begun their journey westward from Azerbaijan.

Thor Heyerdahl, Jakten på Odin

Etter å ha studert Gobustan runene, oppdaget Thor Heyerdahl likheten mellom skipene som ble avbildet på klippene og fartøyene som ble brukt av vikingene, og konkluderte med at vikingene hadde begynt reisen vestover fra Aserbajdsjan.

We followed Thor Heyerdahl’s footsteps to Azerbaijan

We followed Thor Heyerdahl’s footsteps in order to find the similarities between Norway and Azerbaijan. We created a love story scenario, where two persons from two different cultures meet in a love series wearing traditional costumes from Norway and Azerbaijan.

Vi fulgte Thor Heyerdahl’s fotspor til Aserbajdsjan

Discover more

Thor Heyerdahl

The first time I came to Azerbaijan was in 1981. … I came here because I established good contacts with scientists in in this country, and I had learned that you had something quite sensational in Gobustan. I came to Azerbaijan as a guest of the Academy of Science in Azerbaijan to see the famous petroglyphs in Gobustan.

The President of the Academy was driving with me around to see this country and all its beautiful nature, and meet local people and scientists. We went to see the petroglyphs in Gobustan. I learned about my friend’s family connections the day before I left – he was the brother of the President of Azerbaijan, Heydar Aliyev. That was how my friendship with your country started.

Thor Heyerdahl made four visits to Azerbaijan: in 1981, 1994, 1999 and 2000.
Thor Heyerdahl besøkte Aserbajdsjan fire ganger: 1981, 1994, 1999 og 2000.

Gobustan
UNESCO World Heritage Site · Petroglyphs of Gobustan

Gobsutan
UNESCOs verdensarvliste · Runer av Gobustan

“Land of our origin” fashion collection

Inspired by Thor Heyerdahl’s theory of the equations between the Caucasus and Scandinavia.

Fashion designer Shervin Najafpour dedicate
a collection using the petroglyphs,
building cultural bridges between Norwegian
and Turkic cultural heritage. The collection is named “Land of our origin”.

Hadrian’s Gate, Antalya, Turkey
This 2,000-year-old portal to the ancient city is a fine example of Roman ingenuity, with elegant columns, three arches and a marble frame.

Falling in love in Azerbaijan

A mystic poet who wrote during the turn of the 14th century.
Imadaddin Nasimi

Photo credit: Edmond Yang

Discover more

When two cultures becomes one

Når to kulturer blir en

Vi fulgte Thor Heyerdahl’s fotspor for å finne likhetene mellom Norge og Aserbajdsjan. Gjennom en historisk scenario, møter to personer fra to forskjellige kulturer i en kjærlighetsserie iført tradisjonelle drakter fra Norge og Aserbajdsjan.

Ta en nærmere titt sammen medden aserbajdsjanske modellen Elvin Ismayil og den norske influencer Jeanette Elise Hildebrandt.

Falling in love in Baku

Shamakhi, Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan is known as a multicultural and tolerant secular land of religious tolerance.
Aserbajdsjan er kjent som et flerkulturelt og tolerant sekulært land med religiøs toleranse.

The Palace of the Shirvanshahs
Many travelers are looking for an East meets West experience.
Well look no further than Baku, the capital city of the ancient state of the Shirvanshahs. Baku is an ancient city, mixed with old traditional and modern architecture.

“A nation rich in culture will always move forward, live and develop.”

— Heydar Aliyev

“En nasjon rik på kultur vil alltid gå fremover, leve og utvikle seg.”

First official visit to Norway in 1996

National Leader of Azerbaijan, Heydar Aliyev with His Majesty The King. King Harald V and Queen Sonja.

Photo credit: Løchen, Per

Discover more

“My home is where my carpet is spread.”

The Azerbaijan National Carpet Museum reflects the spiritual values of carpet-weaving in this cradle of old civilization.

“Mitt hjem er der teppet mitt er spredt.”

Photo credit: Edmond Yang
Azerbaijani traditional clothing by Fakhriya Khalafova.

“The intangible heritage such as carpet weaving points to nation’s values, beliefs and legacy.

Here you can immerse yourself in genuine ancient traditions today.
It is one of many good reasons to visit the National Carpet Museum of Azerbaijan in the capital city, Baku.”

The land of magic carpets

The hand-woven Azerbaijani carpet of His Majesty King Harald V is an initiative from the Cultural Bridge Building organization CAN’s Chairwoman Shervin Najafpour and The Center of Young Political Scientists Chairman Ilkin Aliyev.

Det håndvevde aserbajdsjansk teppet av Hans majestet Kong Harald V er et initiative fra den kulturelle brobygge organisasjonen CAN’s leder Shervin Najafpour og The Center of Young Political Scientists organisasjonsleder Ilkin Aliyev.

Mayor of Oslo

The Mayor of Oslo, Mrs. Marianne Borgen attended the second opening of the exhibition “Discovering The Land of Our Origin, following Thor Heyerdahl’s footsteps to Azerbaijan” at Aker Brygge.

Ordføreren av Oslo, Marianne Borgen deltok på den andre åpningen av utstillingen “Discovering The Land of Our Origin, following Thor Heyerdahl’s footsteps to Azerbaijan” i Aker Brygge.

Ambassador of Turkey to Norway and Iceland
With our dear Ambassador of Turkey to Norway and Iceland, Mr. Fazlı Corman. His Excellency Mr. Corman was the Chief Opening Guest of our exhibition in Aker Brygge and honored us with his heartwarming words. Quoting both Thor Heyerdahl “Boarders? I have seen no boarders, but I have heard that they exist in some peoples minds” and Heydar Aliyev “We are one nation, two states”.

The Thor Heyerdahl Institute, Museums of Vestfold
With the dear managing director of The Thor Heyerdahl Institute and manager at the museums of Vestfold. Ms. Beate Bjørge.

The creative team behind this cultural bridge building project.

Bli kjent med det kreative teamet bak dette kulturelle brobygger prosjektet.

Edmond Yang

Edmond Yang is a multidisciplinary visual designer based in Norway. With over 20 years of experience he has been working with many different commercial brands in both Scandinavia and Asia. With origins from Asia, his work is influenced by the East and the West. He has exhibited in many cities throughout the years, with the latest project at Nanjing, China, and had a speech at Nanjing Art Museum.

Edmond Yang er en multidisiplinær visuell designer basert i Norge. Med over 20 års erfaring i bransjen har han jobbet med mange forskjellige merkevare i skandinavia og asia. Med opprinnelse fra asia, ser man at arbeidet hans er inspirert både fra vesten og østen. Gjennom de siste årene har han hatt en del utstillinger i mange byer, og det siste prosjektet var i Nanjing, Kina, hvor han hadde også et foredrag på Nanjing Art Museum.

Shervin Najafpour

Shervin Najafpour is a fashion designer of Azerbaijani Turkic origin who embraces her heritage and promotes it through her fashion brand and cultural bridge building projects. A second generation immigrant born and raised in Norway, Shervin manages to incorporate the combination of “The West meets East” which has become her signature.

Shervin Najafpour er en klesdesigner av aserbajdsjansk-tyrkisk opprinnelse, født og oppvokst i Norge. Hennes signatur er å implementere elementer og inspirasjon fra sin rike kulturarv gjennom mote og kulturelle brobygger prosjekter. Dette er hennes måte å uttrykke kombinasjonen av “Vest møter Øst”.

Jeanette Elise Hildebrandt

Jeanette was born and raised in Norway, and has grown to become an influencer with a curious mind and a passion for traveling. Through her previous travel experiences, she has developed a love for cultural bridge building, and expresses this through the “Land of our origin” project. Jeanette was also the model and cultural representative for this project.

Jeanette er født og oppvokst i Norge, og har gjennom årene vokst til å bli en influencer med et nysgjerrig sinn og sterk lidenskap for å reise. Gjennom sine tidligere reiseopplevelser har hun utviklet en forkjærlighet for kulturell brobygging, og uttrykker dette gjennom prosjektet “Land of our origin”. Jeanette var blant annet modell og kulturrepresentant for dette prosjektet.

Gift to the Prime Minister

Handing the Prime Minister of Norway Mrs. Erna Solberg a gift from the project “Discovering The Land of Our Origin” in 2020.

I 2020, overrekker Shervin Najafpour en gave fra prosjektet “Discovering the Land of Our Origin” til den norske statsministeren Erna Solberg.