Exhibition gallery

Mayor of Oslo
Mrs. Marianne Borgen

Traveling exhibition

“Discovering the land of our origin, following Thor Heyerdahl’s footsteps to Azerbaijan” is a cultural bridge building traveling exhibition by CAN.

In 2018 Shervin pitched this idea to Edmond, and they decided to make this unique project happen. With careful planning and long discussions with many protentional sponsors, in 2019 the project was accepted by the State Committee on Work with Diaspora of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Fund for Support to Azerbaijani Diaspora.

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

The fashion star of Azerbaijan, Ms. Fakhriya Khalafova contributed with beautiful Azerbaijani National gowns to Jeanette and the team traveled 4 cities in 5 days to capture the beauty and the similarities. The project was well received and became headlines in multiple Azerbaijani media, which led to 15 TV interviews.

For long the creative team dreamt of making an exhibition happen, and in May 2021 this became a reality with the support from the State Committee on Work with Diaspora of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

The exhibition at Aker Brygge became a hug success among many distinguished guests, leading to a unique collaboration with the Museums of Vestfold and The Thor Heyerdahl Institute. The exhibition also gained great coverage in the Norwegian, Azerbaijani and Turkish medias.

Creative art director Mr. Edmond Yang with politician and cultural bridge builder Mr. Aamir Sheikh

Chairwoman of CAN, Ms. Shervin Najafpour with the Turkish Diplomat Mr. Aytaç Özkütük

AMBASSADOR OF TURKEY TO NORWAY AND ICELAND, MR. FAZLI ÇORMAN
We are honored that Mr. Fazlı Çorman, was the Chief Opening Guest during the Official Opening at Aker Brygge during May 16th, 2021.

VESTFOLD MUSEUMS AND THE THOR HEYERDAHL INSTITUTE
Ms. Beate Bjørge the managing director of The Thor Heyerdahl Institute and manager at the museums of Vestfold, Official Opening at Aker Brygge during May 16th, 2021.

AMBASSADOR OF PAKISTAN TO NORWAY, MR. ZAHEER PERVAIZ KHAN
We are honored that Ambassador of Pakistan to Norway, Mr. Zaheer Pervaiz Khan, visited our second opening at Aker Brygge on May 21st, 2021.

WRITTER, MS. RAGNHILD THORI
Ms. Ragnhild Thori has spent 9 years in Azerbaijan as a English teacher. While living in Azerbaijan she prepared the adaptive version of the great Azerbaijani poet Nizami Ganjavi’s poem “Leili and Mejnun” for children and published in Azerbaijani, English and Russian languages. We are truly honored to have met her and are now working on a great project that will be launched soon.