SPOTLIGHT

Aziza Kadyri’s East London studio is a tapestry of vibrant hues of colourscolors and diverse textures. Fragments of embroidered cloth and delicate patterns lie scattered across her workspace, each carrying traces of history and of her ancestors.  A traditional Uzbek hat is fixed on the wall. Nearby, photographs are taped from her recent exhibitions and intricate embroidery gifted by her friends. This is an artist’s haven where each object is a thread of her identity and story. “This isn’t just fabric,” she says as she navigates through her collection of new and used fabrics, running her fingers over the stitches. “It’s memory, its labourlabor, it’s women’s lives. And when I work with it, I’m adding to that story.” 

 

Aziza knew she wanted to be an artist from a young age, not the most popular choice in her family. Born in Moscow to a family from Uzbekistan, she spent most of her childhood moving between Taiwan, mainland China, and Russia, absorbing cultures and languages that have, in the process, influenced her artistic vision along the way. “I didn’t grow up in Uzbekistan, even though my family is from Tashkent,” she says. “This diaspora upbringing gives me an ambivalent position, looking at my cultural heritage as both an insider and an outsider.”   

 

Aziza’s work has gained attention far beyond London. In just three years of her artistic practice as a multidisciplinary artist, she has exhibited at the Uzbekistan Pavilion at the Venice Biennale and Pushkin House in London. Each project expanded her central themes.   

For Aziza, textiles are vessels of memory. Her family has a long history with cotton, a crop that has shaped Uzbekistan’s economy and landscape during the Soviet era. Her ancestors worked in the cotton trade, and the women in her family passed down intricate hand-stitched embroideries that held their narratives. “Textiles hold labourlabor, memory, history,” she says. “They’re made by people, usually women, who put themselves into every stitch.”  

 

Photo taken from the interviewee. Spinning Tales Exhibition. ‘Nine Moons’

Her exhibition, Spinning Tales, reflected this deeply personal connection. Among the works was Nine Moons, an artwork rooted in her great-grandmother’s dowry, whose name Oybibi, translates to ‘the moon dame’.  The dowry was a large piece of Suzani embroidery of the Jizzakh region. And if you aren’t sure what Suzani is, it is a traditional hand-stitched embroidery from Central Asia. 

 

The original fabric was cut into pieces and distributed among her extended family, leaving Aziza with two pieces. With Nine Moons, Aziza reconstructed the lost parts, weaving together stories of the women in her family. 

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Aziza reinvents tradition using found and salvaged textiles, layering them with contemporary techniques. Some pieces incorporate digital elements; others explore oral histories, reflecting how stories are passed down, altered, and reimagined. “I work with the little crumbs left behind,” she says. “I find pieces scattered across different spaces and fill the gaps with my speculations or imaginations.” 

Migration is another central theme in her work. After moving to London in 2018, Aziza was initially set to pursue live theatretheater, but the pandemic forced her to change her route. She stepped away from performance and turned towards the materiality of textiles, reconnecting with visual language and heritage. “I wasn’t expecting this to be my path,” she says. “But everything I’ve done seems to lead back to being creative. It’s simply the way I understand the world.” 

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Her grandfather’s journey to the United States became a starting point for her project. “The story that starts with him,” she says, “but it’s not just about him. 

Her approach resists the somewhat simplified narratives about migration as loss or triumph. Instead, she explores its complexities. “Migration is messy,” she says. “It’s not just about leaving one place behind. It’s adaptation and how you carry home with you, even as it constantly shifts.”  

 

Although her art resonates with the representation of Central Asian culture, there’s more that she wants to communicate through her art. “I don’t want to present Central Asia simply as a region with problems. I aim to create dialogues where people from diverse cultural backgrounds, especially those with migration experiences, can find resonance and continue the conversation.”  

Aziza is now preparing for a major project in Germany, collaborating with the Zeppelin Museum. As she continues to grow, Aziza reflects on her journey, “Being an artist, to me, is more a state of mind than a profession,” she says. “It’s about seeing the world differently and sharing that perspective with others.”