Author: saulesuleimenova
Artist
Saule Suleimenova
Saule Suleimenova (b. 1970) is an artist working in a variety of mediums from paintings and graphics to public art. In 1996 Suleimenova graduated from the Kazakh Leading Academy of Architecture and Civil Engineering with a degree in architectural design. In her work, Suleimenova explores the construct of collective memory, and researches archives and photographs as well as the semiotics of contemporary cities and the history of Qazaqstan. Her most recent series titled Cellophane Painting is made out of used plastic bags and consists of motifs from socio-political (Asharshalyk, Karlag, human rights, Uyghur genocide) to highly personal (family members, flowers, cityscape)
Her most recent series titled Cellophane Painting is made out of used plastic bags and consists of motifs from socio-political (Arsharshalyk, Karlags, human rights, Uighur genocide) to highly personal (family members, flowers, cityscape). She is a laureate of Zhiger, Shabyt, Tengri Umai prizes. Her recent exhibitions include Between the sun and the moon, Lahore Biennale curated by Sheikha, Hoor Al Qasimi in 2020 in Lahore, Pakistan, Plastic, the Last Hero of the Great Steppe at Andakulova Gallery in Dubai in 2021, Of Their Time (7), A look at private collections, Frac Grand Large, Haute-De-France in 2023, Kazakhstan All The Time, Jeonbuk Museum of Art, Jeonju, South Korea, in 2023. In September 2025, Suleimenova is to participate in Bukhara Biennial in Uzbekistan, Qonaqtar in Almaty Museum of Arts, Kazakhstan and Kyiv Biennial in Warsaw, Poland.
Suleimenova’s artworks are part of the private and public collections including M HKA Collection, Sharjah Art Foundation, Servais Family Collection, Eurasian Cultural Alliance, Boranbayev Family Collection.
CELLOPHANE PAINTING
Saule Suleimenova’s project Cellophane painting is the next step after her early projects. Now in Cellophane painting project artist uses only plastic bags, cellophane cover films and no any paint or other artistic material. These plastic materials are already include the rich palette of colors and textures. Plastic stays in ground for tens of years and hardly dissolve. It’s thousands tons of not dissolved trash lie on a huge territory of Kazakh steppe.
ОСТАТОЧНАЯ ПАМЯТЬ – RESIDUAL MEMORY
AstanaLine
ASTANALINE, 2015-2016. acrylic on photo print on canvas, 127 cm x 28 m
In Astana that is a newly made capital of Kazakhstan the common ideological and visual tool that is often used by authorities is to cover all the constructions and other ugly aspects of the constant and ongoing urban interventions. The state power covers it with plastic banners with the images of spectacular views of Astana or the beautiful wild nature of Kazakhstan. So one day I got the printed views of Astana 42 meters long. The materials were given to me by a local advertising company as a leftover after their PR campaign. Funny but true, not only it is quite a post modern move to cover and pretend the beauty instead of make it real, but the state failed even in the artificiality as prints had poor quality, sloppy and clearly not serving its initial function – to cover the ugliness. In that particular case they even printed it on canvas not the plastic banner as it is always done so it immediately rang the bell and gave a start to ASTANALINE project.
The idea was to paint over with the archetypal images of Kazakhs taken from archival photo sources or the steppe. Those photos were used to be later covered with current views of Astana and those that were made several years ago at the same place where the present skyscrapers are. So again, here one deals with the time, horizontal freedom of the steppe vs. vertical urbanism of contemporary cities, new identity that was partly implemented with the capitalistic state of mind – the bigger the better, luxury glassy structures as oppose to moving nomadic and naturally looking objects. The mixture of past and the present. The mixture of painting and photography. The mixture of steppe and urbanization. The mixture of archetypes and reality where it is confusing what is more artificial.
ASTANALINE is an art project that is approximately 28 meters long and it comes in 15 pieces.
I am Kazakh
kazakh chronicle
saule suleimenova 