In the Pastan series, Meldibekov employs his own body to investigate the image of the Central-Asian "Orientalistic Other." In Pastan I, the character performed by the artist passively allows himself to be beaten and humiliated. Viewers are confronted with a seemingly limitless sense of submission, but simultaneously with the monumental force of naked life [sic]. Meldibekov: "This work symbolizes what people in Central-Asia are put through by systems that use violence and fear to maintain control." [Overiview Courtesy of Stedelijk Museum]