i was lucky enough to travel pretty intensely this summer, spending as much as time as possible in various galleries and museums (the most memorable being the Venice Biennale and the Kiasma Museum of Modern Art.) i have just gotten around to looking at my notes from all of those amazing visits, and thought i would share something that really stuck out in my memory:
Almagul Menlibayeva
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Menlivayeva is a video installation artist from Almatay, Kazakhstan who explores something called "Romantic Punk Shamanism," mixing elements of the her own cultural traditions, muslim spiritualism, contemporary punk culture, and the power and mysticism of female identity. i found Menlibayeva's installation in the Kiasma in Helsinki as part of an exhibition called "Time of the Storytellers", and was totally blown away. projected on two giant screens in a totally white room, images of naked women buried waist-deep in snow spinning faster and faster, chanting songs and raising their hands to the sky...rituals involving fire, gold, and earth...women floating in the water with their hair flowing...sheep's heads, blood, horns, and snow...
beautiful, personal, wild imagery that was powerfully traditional, yet seemed very, very contemporary (and punk and feminist, in a true, raw, innate completely non-western type of way.) unfortunately, i was unable to find any of her actual videos online, but the images above are stills from them, and give you some idea of what her work is about.