Aziza Shadenova (b. 1989 in Uzbekistan) is a Kazakh artist raised in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. Graduating from Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in 2011, she now lives and works in Hastings and London, UK.

Shadenova’s work is multidisciplinary, exploring painting, photography, moving image and installation. Similarly, the artist tackles a breadth of pertinent themes and issues in her work, reflecting on her cultural upbringing throughout the turbulence of the Post-Soviet period, whilst examining global issues such as crises in ecology and identity. In particular, Shadenova has been influenced by the twentieth-century avant-garde and the ‘Theatre of the Absurd’. As the artist explains: “I define my practice as a visual absurdist poetry. The majority of my work is based around humour and absurdism involved in dysfunctional mental states, immigration and perception of life.” Yet within the array of media and breadth of themes, her works are ultimately rooted in identity and the crossroads between Central Asian traditions and westernisation.

Shadenova’s expansive practice explores the nuances of identity and being in our contemporary moment, whilst carefully consulting histories and memory. The plait predominantly features throughout her works as a symbol of Central Asian identity and histories, particularly in relation to women. In the exhibition Post Nomadic Mind (2018), Shadenova carefully observed grandmothers, mothers, and daughters. She noticed the way in which their long hair would be tied or plaited when faced with hard work. The installation featured sheep fleece, a central source of survival in Nomadic life. The sheep were therefore both the source of their life (and so, longer hair) and labour. The Homemaker featured dramatically long plaits draped over glass cylinders stuffed with sheep’s wool, recognising the perseverance and labour of women from nomadic times to present day.

Aziza Shadenova was one of the few young artists featured in the Central Asian Pavilion at the 55th Venice Biennale (2013). She has participated in group shows at Sotheby’s; Moscow Biennale 2014; EMMA Espoo Museum of Fine Arts (Finland, 2016), HOME gallery Manchester, Kyrgyz National Museum of Fine Arts; EXPO 2015, as well as exhibitions in Russia, France, Switzerland, Finland, Germany, Luxembourg, Kazakhstan, Argentina and the United Kingdom. Her works are a part of many collections internationally, such as LACMA (Los Angeles, USA), IADA (Kazakhstan/France), Moving Image (London, UK) and National Museum of Kazakhstan (Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan). In June 2020, Shadenova collaborated with Ainalaiyn Space to create Aziza Shadenova: My Cocoon Tightens - Colours Tease -, a solo exhibition at Exposed Arts Projects, London. Shadenova will also be taking part in the Sharjah Biennial 15, 'Thinking Historically in the Present', in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, in 2023.