b. 1959, Almaty, Kazakhstan

(1959, Almaty – lives and works in Almaty) Askar Yessenbayev is a sculptor and graphic artist, a key figure among the generation shaping Kazakhstan’s post-Soviet visual art. Rather than illustrating stories, his visual language draws on symbolism, allegory and heightened emotional expression to reflect on the complexities of contemporary life. Yessenbayev graduated from the Alma-Ata Art School in 1978 and the Surikov Institute in Moscow in 1985. His sculptural language is varied, ranging from minimal and abstract to expressive and figural. He synthesizes ancient Turkic sculptural elements with modernist forms. His work Noah’s Ark, on view in Qonaqtar, embodies the forced coexistence experienced during crises, resonating with the collective memory of historical deportations and migrations, and other traumas that have shaped the history of Central Asia. It also echoes the idea that in the midst of upheaval, we are ‘in the same boat,’ bound by a shared moment of hope, endurance, and solidarity.