Almagul Menlibayeva × WE • NERA: From Art to Fabric

Almagul Menlibayeva is a Kazakh contemporary artist working across photography, video installation, textiles and digital media. Her work explores Central Asia’s cultural memory, female identity, ecology and nomadic mythology. For her collaboration with WE • NERA, these subjects take shape in original prints for scarves, twillies and sleep masks.

Snow leopards, the landscape of Almaty and the figure of the horse appear alongside abstract and cosmic imagery. Each design carries a different story, with details that come into view as the fabric moves.

Born in Almaty, Kazakhstan, in 1969, Menlibayeva studied at the State Institute of Art and Theatre in Almaty from 1987 to 1992. She lives and works between Almaty and Berlin.

Her photography and video combine documentary material with staged scenes to explore memory and identity in post-Soviet Central Asia. Women, mythology and the region’s landscapes recur throughout her practice. Her video installation Kurchatov 22 examines the legacy of nuclear testing in Kazakhstan through historical material, eyewitness interviews and staged performances.

Her international exhibition history includes the Sydney Biennale in 2012, The Union of Fire and Water at the Venice Biennale in 2015 and the Sharjah Biennial in 2023. Her solo exhibitions include a presentation at the Grand Palais in Paris in 2016 and I Understand Everything at Almaty Museum of Arts in 2025. Read more in Aspan Gallery’s artist profile.

Textile, felt and thread have long been part of Menlibayeva’s practice. She has described these materials through their fluidity and ability to create space. In the WE • NERA collection, that relationship with fabric becomes something the wearer can experience directly.

A scarf reveals only part of its composition when folded or tied. Worn around the neck, over the head or on a bag, the same print brings different colours and figures into focus. Opened out, it can also be displayed as an art object.

Snow Leopard
Two pearl-like snow leopards appear within a shimmering mountain landscape where mountains and cosmic imagery meet. The animals form part of a larger world of water and glaciers. The print reflects Menlibayeva’s interest in Central Asia’s fragile ecosystems and the relationship between people and nature.

Almaty
Dedicated to the artist’s native city, Almaty brings personal memories together with mountains, urban symbols and contemporary architecture. Fragments of the city’s past and present form a portrait shaped by memory rather than a literal map or cityscape.

Fire Horse
The horse, a companion in Central Asian nomadic culture, becomes a vivid, almost futuristic figure. Intense colour and a sense of movement give Fire Horse its energy, carrying a familiar subject into Menlibayeva’s contemporary visual language.

Fuchsia Moon
Natural forms meet saturated colour and cosmic imagery in Fuchsia Moon. Recognisable details sit beside abstract shapes, leaving room for different readings of the landscape.

Pearl Water
Soft lines and shifting tones give Pearl Water a sense of light and fluidity. Its abstract landscape becomes especially expressive in motion, as the fabric changes the contours of the image.

The collection includes double-sided silk scarves, polyester scarves and twillies, and silk sleep masks. Explore the available pieces in the Almagul Menlibayeva × WE • NERA collection.