INTERVIEW WITH ZHAZIRA JANABAYEVA
OCA Magazine: Tell us, please, about yourself and your creative activity / work
Zhazira Janabayeva: My name is Zhazira Janabaeva – a professional artist. My speciality is textiles. The techniques I work in are: silk painting and hand weaving. For the last 13 years my artistic practice is mandala art. The traditional mandala is a centred drawing in a circle, used for spiritual practices, in art therapy and in art. I practise the programming of mandalas. In the process of creating mandalas I use: meditation, psychology of colours, symbolism of ornamental elements, language of colours, ancient signs of Kazakh tribes and numerology.
In the sacred space of the mandala I get access to the unconscious and the possibility to trust the living creative process without social, gender and professional conditions.
The mandala is a creative meditation. The circle. The absolute. Completeness. Exhaustion. A chance to be alone with yourself and the world. Mandala is a frozen prayer, a message to the world, a manifesto.
OCA: How did you choose your path and who is your role model in the creative space or life?
ZJ: 22 years ago I opened a studio for fine and applied arts ‘Blue Turtle’ and in the process of working all these years I studied education, child psychology and art therapy. Through art therapy I came to mandala art and it became my passion. The most important person in the history of world culture for me is Vincent Van Gogh. Since my childhood I have studied his biography and his work. His painting is absolutely emotional and therefore incredibly authentic. His incredible efficiency is a benchmark for me. In the last year of his life, his health was completely compromised, and yet he continued to work mystically hard – he painted one picture a day. Imagine – 365 works in one year! I also ‘connect’ with him, a literally interesting and little known fact. He saved colours, he was looking for his magic colour harmonies, mixing woollen threads of different shades. Recently, when I took the finished tapestry out of the frame, I noticed that the underside of the tapestry was visually very similar to Van Gogh’s work. I had a hypothesis that the artist had mastered the art of tapestry weaving.
OCA: What is your main achievement in 2023-2024?
ZJ: Last year was very valuable for me – my daughter Laal Avgambayeva participated in London Fashion Week with the collection “Anatomy of the Steppe”, as I am a textile designer of the brand “LAAL”, I created embroideries for the models. I also took part in a large international exhibition dedicated to the 90th anniversary of the Union of Artists of Kazakhstan, which was held in two major museums of our country, the State Museum of Fine Arts of Kazakhstan named after Kasteev in Almaty and the National Museum of Kazakhstan in Astana. In the spring of this year I participated in the exhibition ‘Graphics of Kazakhstan’ and recently I opened an exhibition of children’s works ‘Beautiful World – with beautiful eyes’ of my studio ‘Blue Turtle’. Both events took place in the Central State Museum in Almaty.
OCA: What is the main feature that makes you and your art/work unique?
ZJ: My mandalas are programming, all without exception, who became the owners of my works, confirm their magical impact on reality. That is, if a person has chosen a mandala focused on health, he is healed, if he has chosen a mandala focused on creating happy relationships, he finds a loved one. This happens because in my work there is no adult rationalism and it is almost impossible to rely on my academic training, because, such is the peculiarity of the mandala technique, it always works on an intuitive, almost unconscious level, and this makes my work sincere and effective in the end.
OCA: Tell us, please, about the events or projects of the Eurasian Creative Guild (London) and projects that you have already taken part in and how does ECG influence your creativity and success in your work?
ZJ: Last year my work was included in an art catalogue that was sent to 10 major art galleries. For me, the Guild is first and foremost about people – talented, bright and representing the contemporary culture of different countries. I have made friends in the Guild, which is very precious to me. Marat Akhmedjanov has become a real friend for our family, he is amazing, kind, always full of energy and new ideas.
I am interested not only in the preservation of national traditions of applied arts, but also in their modernisation.
OCA: What is your motivation and the main aim of your creativity?
ZJ: In today’s art world, there is a completely unjustified opinion that applied art is not art. Isn’t it the historical origin of all kinds of visual arts? So my aim is to integrate tapestry, batik and felt into the contemporary art discourse. I also work only with ecological materials: silk and wool, which is very authentic to my national culture and allows me to feel that time is passing through me and that something very important is continuing.
OCA: What would you wish for the members of the Guild and other creative people, just starting their career?
ZJ: To all the guild members and creative people, I don’t want to try to evaluate the results of your work, and just keep going no matter what, because if the Almighty, let’s call it that, puts a hand, a brush, a musical instrument, etc. into your hands, then there is a higher purpose in it.