Almagul Menlibayeva retrospective opens at Almaty Museum of Arts

In September, the Almaty Museum of Arts opened its doors as Central Asia's inaugural major private contemporary art museum, featuring an extensive retrospective of Almagul Menlibayeva's work. Titled "I Understand Everything" and curated by Gridthiya Gaweewong, the exhibition showcases three decades of the artist's development. After departing Kazakhstan in the early 2000s, Menlibayeva gained international acclaim through exhibitions in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, with her art reaching a broader audience outside her homeland. The display is organized chronologically, starting with her early textile pieces and grattage paintings, which were created during times of material scarcity and ideological limitations. These textile selections cleverly navigated the constraints of Socialist Realism while honoring suppressed traditional Kazakh arts, reflecting Menlibayeva's evolution from the underground Green Triangle collective in late Soviet Almaty to her current global stature.