Aziza Shadenova

A solo exhibition

Exposed Arts Projects, London

8 June – 8 July 2022

Curator: Indira Dyussebayeva-Ziyabek

Curatorial Assistant: Phoebe Bradley-White

Ainalaiyn Space is proud to announce Aziza Shadenova: My Cocoon Tightens – Colours Tease –. We have collaborated with Exposed Arts Projects, a research-based think-and-do-tank, to curate Shadenova’s first solo exhibition with Ainalaiyn Space and our second curatorial project of 2022. We extend our thanks to Exposed Arts Projects for supporting this project. 

Thinking with both the most intimate memories from her childhood and the most collective moments of national history, the exhibition explores Shadenova’s upbringing in Uzbekistan. The artist explores themes of identity, memory and belonging in this playful exhibition that utilises the distinctive mirrored walls of Exposed Arts Projects. Like the caterpillar transforming into the butterfly, My Cocoon Tightens – Colours Tease – traverses Shadenova’s formative moments, while celebrating the constant transformations we all experience. Fragments of the artist’s memories are interwoven with references to Uzbek culture, the western art historical canon, and the metamorphic symbols of the butterfly and mirror, to highlight the intricacies and poetics of identity.

We would like to extend our gratitude to Exposed Arts Projects for making this project possible.