Yurts, Blankets And Plastic Bridal Gowns: The Craft Tradition And Contemporary Kazakh Art
Saule Suleimenova, Kelin (Bride), 2015, plastic bags on polycarbonate
In this series, I’ll look at art works featuring fabric by three very different women from Kazakhstan.
I’d like to find out why Almagul Menlibayeva created epic videos and photographs of women swathed (or strangled?) by traditional fabrics in front of historical monuments. I’ll discover how Gulnur Mukazhanova reapplies felting techniques to create haunting face masks, and uses floating polyester silks to expose facelessness and falsity of modern society. I’ll also examine what Saule Suleimenova wants to say in using old plastic bags to depict a bride in traditional dress.
Kazakhstan is a Central Asian country sandwiched between Russia and China. In its recent past there were gulags, nuclear tests, and the Aral Sea. In the present, it has a space rocket launch site, oil and gas. It’s also a country with vast and vastly different landscapes: from mountain peaks to barren steppes, pine forests and flamingo lakes.
Gulnur Mukazhanova, Transformation of traditional values during Globalization,
#3, 2013-2016, cheepwool felted masks, handmade and glued together
Kazakhstan’s traditional crafts are similarly rich and diverse – needlework, carpets, woodwork, silversmithing – and its contemporary art scene is both vibrant and socially active.
When I co-curated an exhibition of Kazakh art in London in 2018, someone remarked that we did a good job including so many women artists. This surprised me. We were not trying specifically to include women; it just happens that among the brilliant contemporary artists in Kazakhstan, many are female. Indeed, except for major collectors, the rest of the Kazakh art world – curators, gallerists, critics – is predominantly female. But the remark made me realise that this is in stark contrast to even the most feminist of Western societies.
Almagul Menlibayeva, video still 1 Butterflies of Aisha Bibi, 2010, HD video, Sound OMFO,
single channel, 10 min, Production Kazakhstan, Courtesy American-Eurasian Art Advisors
LLC, Almagul Menlibayeva ©
Could there be a link between the history of craft and the presence of women in Kazakhstan’s art world? Traditional crafts involving fabric – from clothing to carpets, to blanket making – were all in the female domain. While most of these items served a utilitarian purpose, a large number were also (or only) decorative.
Being principally nomadic, Kazakhs used mobile houses known as yurts. Although plain on the outside, these were richly and colourfully decorated inside with fabrics including cotton, silk, and (mostly) wool in the form of felt. Women designed these yurt interiors: they made choices on what fabric to use, which colours to combine, and most importantly the pattern.
Kazakh Yurt
I remember my grandmother telling me she had devised a special pattern for a blanket she’d made for me. I must admit, I wasn’t interested in the detail back then, but clearly it stuck in my mind. I was a child of the city, born in the late Soviet period, the 1980s, when sovietisation was gradually replaced with westernisation. We were interested in jeans and sneakers. Only on leaving Kazakhstan did I become intrigued by its cultural heritage.
Is it possible that this association of women and crafts meant that when the Soviet Union fell apart, some women decided to revive traditional techniques, while others discovered contemporary art and its methods, which allowed them to channel their inner experiences as well as their social and political views?
Was it also this association that meant that, in Kazakh society, women artists were not perceived as unusual? And men were not perceived as having a special gift? I think so, and look forward to exploring this more with you.
About Author
Aliya de Tiesenhausen
Aliya is an art enthusiast by nature and an art historian by training. She lives in London, UK and is a writer, curator, and editor and has worked with galleries, a museum and at a world-famous auction house.Leave a comment
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10 Comments
Judy Coates Perez
In my experience as a mixed-media textile artist and instructor there are a lot more women artists than men. The problem is that in the US, and most of the world, men have gotten all the recognition, shows and highest sales in the arts. It is only in recent history that we are starting to see the balance shift. Even in the quilt world, dominated by women makers and a handful of men, a small percentage of women rise to the top while a large percentage of the men rise to the top. For years our society has unjustifiably given preferences to men for their perceived talent, skill and intelligence undercutting many women more justifiably deserved. It’s time we start *seeing* all the talented women in our midst.
Aliya de Tiesenhausen
Judy, yes, there is a slow change with wider recognition for women. We discover now some male artists worked together with their wives or partners, but with no mention of the latter’s input. We can research, learn, write – spread the word – and support contemporary creators.
Elizabeth Petersen
Fascinating! I, too, would love to see yurt interiors. Are there other former soviet regions where women artists predominate?
My grandmother also made blankets (afghans) either knitting or crocheting. I loved the bright colors! I believe that every family needs a knitter or weaver to make blankets, hats, mittens, socks. Now I am that person in my family, although I am a sloooow knitter!
Aliya de Tiesenhausen
Thank you Elizabeth! There are very interesting women artists and film makers from Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan as well. In general former soviet regions have a lot of women working in the art sphere – as curators at museums or art critics.
Yes, I think hand made blanket or socks by your relative are just that little bit warmer. In a way people weave their family stories through these objects.
Nancy Stockman
yes, please tell us more! I would love some interior pictures of yurts…and what was the special pattern for your blanket?
Aliya de Tiesenhausen
Hi Nancie, I am afraid I don’t have the blanket or any record of it… this is the case of appreciating something only when it is lost. It was a variation on one of the traditional Kazakh ornaments.
Peggi Laubenheim
What a wonderful informative article. I am a lover of all things fiber. The yurt is so interesting. That women are artists of note in Kazakhstan is very interesting. I look forward to more articles on the subject.
Aliya de Tiesenhausen
Thank you Peggi! I am looking forward to share more on this subject.
Martha F Davis
Loved this article as well. Amazing fabric, the yurts are also so interesting and habitable in that climate. I’ve never seen one one built and padded like the pic. This would provide great insulation.
Aliya de Tiesenhausen
Thank you Martha, yes, yurts are intriguing – cleverly designed structures with deeper meaning attached to them in post/nomadic cultures.