“The most valuable thing an artist can give to the world is to create a world of her own.”
Words by Malika Athey. Photography by Michael Karnushkin.
A household name in the Qazaq art scene, Indira Elif Badambayeva has done it all, from holding a personal exhibition at a national museum when she was only 25 to having her collections of postcards as national bestsellers year after year, all while running her own showroom and sharing her knowledge with numerous students and continuously creating incredibly sought-after artworks.
Badambayeva has been an artist for as long as she can remember, even as a young child she spent countless hours drawing, without needing any external incentive, supervision or prompts. She credits her parents for fostering her imagination with fairy tale books, as her mother read to her before bedtime every night since she was a one year old, while her father brought half-filled suitcases of books back from his work trips. “They’d spare no effort to find the next volume if it was a series, in an era when the national economy was crushed and when it was a challenge for the family to make ends meet.” It is these fairy tales that made her, and it is the fantasy worlds that the artists create, according to Badambayeva, that make them timeless.
Her ability to convey complex themes through ethereal beauty landed her a years-long collaboration with Harper’s BAZAAR Kazakhstan, where she made her mark with her reimagined Saka princess-warrior for the issue dedicated to Qandy qañtar. She painted the cover at the moment when the nation was so shaken by the tragic events of January 2022 that a regular fashion shoot wouldn’t suffice, and it became an instant classic.
A creative through and through, wired as a magical thinker, she’s a surprisingly hands-on businesswoman. Her postcards gained huge popularity at the country’s largest entertainment store chain, Marwin, for their disarming appeal and loving take on Qazaq traditions, and her impressive showroom at the centre of Almaty, the city dubbed the cultural capital, constantly sells out her expanding merchandise range. “This may sound odd, but only by immersing oneself in business does an artist find freedom. See, there is no avoiding sales. If you make your own living as an artist, you’ll have to face it, and the more you learn about selling, the more control over your artistic career you’ll gain. I once heard a saying, ‘It is easy to be strong’, and it stuck with me.” Before embracing the business side of things, she gave herself time to find her path. The artist in her lived and worked as she pleased until she created her signature pieces. Then came the time to scale and, “scaling is impossible without business.”
Another significant and demanding dimension of her work is teaching. She consciously runs an all-female studio, helping women in art find their own voice. She gives her students more than just the skills – though a master across techniques, Badambayeva values the metaphorical over vérité. “The most potent muse of all is our own inner child,” she quotes Stephen Nachmanovitch. Citing Botticelli, classic Disney, and the riverbank of Irtysh, where she grew up, as her major influences, Indira Elif Badambayeva is immersed in teaching the world and changing perspectives so that a Qazaq girl is seen to be bright and free.
Discover this piece inside the Central Asia Chapter at The Silk Road Issue 12
Purchase your copy here.
Comentarios