Traditional and contemporary art of Kazakhstan
A Virtual Journey into the World of Kazakhstan’s Artistic Heritage
This Web Gallery presents the diversity of artistic practices in Kazakhstan, reflecting the continuity of cultural traditions and the dynamic development of contemporary creative processes. The virtual exhibition features works based on national images, symbols, and themes, as well as artworks by contemporary artists who reinterpret the country’s cultural heritage through contemporary artistic forms, expressive means, and modern technologies.
The selected works demonstrate the relationship between traditional and contemporary art, revealing the distinctive features of the national worldview, cultural identity, and cultural meanings. The presented materials allow viewers to trace how elements of historical and cultural heritage are reflected in contemporary artistic practice, while maintaining their significance and relevance in an increasingly globalized world.
The Web Gallery is aimed at promoting Kazakhstan’s artistic heritage, expanding public access to works of art, and fostering a lasting interest in national culture and art among a wide audience.
Art of independent Kazakhstan
Artistic textiles
- Sary-Arka, 2018. Tapestry, weaving
- The Sacred Tree. 2001. Tapestry, weaving.
- Infinity, 2002. Tapestry, weaving
- The Legend of Love. Korpesh the Goat and Bayan Sulu, 2024. Tapestry, weaving. Source: https://www.ounce.group
- Zhekpe-Zhek, 2011. Wool, acrylic, silk, hand-woven. Source: https://nomadmgz.kz
- Day and Night, 2023. Tapestry, weaving. Source: https://www.ounce.group
- Zheruyyk. 2003. Tapestry, weaving.
- Quraq. Made in Kazakhstan. Tapestry. 2014. Wool, acrylic, silk, hand-woven. Source: https://nomadmgz.kz
- ‘Daughter of the Steppe’. Felt. 2015, Source: https://businessfm.kz
- Aksai Stream (detail), 2020. Wool, felt and stones
- Adyraspan, 2015. Wool, felting
- The Tree of Life. 2016. Wool, felting
- Tumar-2. From the ‘Tumar’ series, 2016. Wool, felting
- Harmony with the Universe, 2020. Felt, wool, felting. Source: https://www.ounce.group
- The Transformation of Traditional Values in the Age of Globalisation, 2018 Installation, felt, mixed media. Source: https://aspangallery.com
- ‘Әлем білігі’ – ‘The Axis of the Universe’. 2010. Felt, felting. Photo by S. Suraganova
- ‘Kanbak’ – ‘Rolling Field’. 2008. Felt, felting. Photo by S. Suraganova
- Green Earth, Weaving, wool, chii.
- Weaving, wool, chii.
- A Glance from the Past. Weaving, wool, chii. 2006. Source: https://roerich.kz
- ‘Quryltay’, 2023 Photograph by Zh. N. Shaygozova
- ‘Aspanda’, 2022. Photograph by Zh. N. Shaigozova
- Ush zhuz. From the book by Mukhamedzhan Z., *The Art of Kazakh Embroidery*. – Almaty: Almatykitap, 2008.
- ‘The Heavenly Bridegroom’. From the artist’s personal archive
- Samruk, 2010. Source: T. Zh. Tokhtabaeva, ‘Ethnomodernism in the Symbolic Embroidery of Zeynelkhan and Botagoz Mukhametjan’. Almaty: ‘LA GR CE’ LLP, 2020
- Aily Kesh, 2020
Within the framework of visual studies, textiles are no longer perceived solely as objects of decorative and applied art; rather, as we see it, they have acquired the status of a visual medium capable of producing, preserving and conveying cultural meanings. Drawing on William J. T. Mitchell’s concept of the ‘pictorial turn’, the artistic textiles of contemporary Kazakhstan can be interpreted as a system of images functioning on a par with text and historical narrative. Traditional motifs become a semiotic structure that shapes the visual discourse of culture. In other words, they (the motifs) function as stable cultural signs, representing ideas of ancestral memory, the cyclical nature of time and the cosmogonic order.
An important theoretical foundation is provided by Jan and Aleida Assmann’s concept of ‘cultural memory’, according to which visual forms can preserve collective experience and ensuring the continuity of identity. In contemporary Kazakh artistic textiles, this function is manifested through references to mythological models — Zheruyyk, Baiterek, the image of the nomad, the heavenly horses, the tumar and many others. The textile work is transformed into a mnemonic object — an object of memory, where archaic symbols are given a new interpretation.
The materiality of textiles takes on particular significance. In theories of material culture and textile studies (Daniel Miller, Annette Weiner), fabric is regarded as a carrier of social memory and tactile experience. Felt, handweaving, tambour embroidery and the texture of wool in Kazakh art maintain a connection with nomadic civilisation and craft traditions. Through texture, density and rhythm, textiles visualise the idea of rootedness, protection and cultural resilience.
Another important aspect is the post-colonial dimension of textile art. According to Homi Bhabha, cultural identity is formed within a space of hybridity, where tradition is constantly being reinterpreted. Contemporary Kazakh textiles demonstrate precisely this hybrid aesthetic: traditional craft practices are combined with abstract expressionism, minimalism, conceptual art and the principles of contemporary art. As a result, textiles become not a reconstruction of the past, but a means of actualising memory within a global artistic context.
As showcased in our Web Gallery, through a diverse range of works, contemporary Kazakhstani artists actively combine traditional textile techniques with the aesthetics of modernism and postmodernism: abstract composition, fragmentation, an expressive colour scheme and the principles of deconstruction. This process aligns with Rosalind Krauss’s ideas on the expanded field of art, where the boundaries between the decorative, the visual and the conceptual become fluid.