https://www.aikaakhmetova.com/work daily 0.75 2026-01-29 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55106de7e4b0e379eb7efe1f/1454985268836-LRHMYVBNS22UY2JK3CGN/printmakingfinal.jpg Work - Big Towel image transfer, monotype, etching on towel, band-aid, 18x40 inches, December 2015 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55106de7e4b0e379eb7efe1f/1454367585977-5P4XH8U14I5DMUMBEA8W/image-asset.jpeg Work - Take a Test Installation, December 2015 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55106de7e4b0e379eb7efe1f/1454986208527-MLT5BMO6PJWZ4C5X13SV/movieposters.jpg Work - Movie Posters #nospoilersfortakeatest diptych, acrylic and oil on canvas, 80x40 inches each, December 2015 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55106de7e4b0e379eb7efe1f/1454988243377-95H6OGGOFK25H6MXEOH5/image-asset.jpeg Work - Juicy Bottle Installation, November 2015 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55106de7e4b0e379eb7efe1f/1455213845975-X9J53JDAA0XLN2X2FHIP/gifidkprofile.gif Work - IDK Series of moving images, August 2015 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55106de7e4b0e379eb7efe1f/1457920855090-MNLPS2UETQ7S3V3RSUYR/use-me-im-into-it.gif Work https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55106de7e4b0e379eb7efe1f/1485970400763-0UA194WQRLI4P2IJT4IV/image-asset.jpeg Work - daddy https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55106de7e4b0e379eb7efe1f/1490827929579-TQK9C4J6936W96VESADS/image-asset.jpeg Work - Chapters https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55106de7e4b0e379eb7efe1f/1558503320413-BFNY11JIZ7FWUFOFNSY8/image-asset.jpeg Work - Proposal For A Room: Living Room (Video) video loop. 01:21. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55106de7e4b0e379eb7efe1f/1558129472332-V4153I0LSJ8DG8PIGOH4/aikafirstyear3.jpg Work - Kyzdin Zholy Zheneshke wood, latex, fake leather, metal, video loop, synthetic carpet, 2 x 25 lb and 4 x 10 lb Olympic grade weight plates, 4 x 10 lb ankle weights, shoes, earrings, 2 tea cups, synthetic hair, dental dams, human body (when activated) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55106de7e4b0e379eb7efe1f/1558497816680-6I4WPTTEIVHWBZK8E249/Thirstyshag1.jpg Work - Thirsty Rug shag bath rug, sunflower seed shells, metal earrings, silicone cast, linoleum tiles, blue rhinestones, nails. 48 x 48 x 5 inches. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55106de7e4b0e379eb7efe1f/1524677131300-LN7OZF7WVJWSK1GTUAQA/aigerim_akhmetova_012.jpg Work - Untitled synthetic rug, acrylic paint, flashe paint. 35 x 22 inches. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55106de7e4b0e379eb7efe1f/1485892889163-O13VHWEO5KTYR1CXXSSW/flagno1+copy+copy.jpg Work https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55106de7e4b0e379eb7efe1f/1490824491989-W63PBZ4TC99O7NZD7NZL/image-asset.jpeg Work - Prepositions (collaboration with Kristen Shea) video loop. 02:57. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55106de7e4b0e379eb7efe1f/1558139454977-L0TTDEUZQXO6YWWRDGZJ/aika+image.jpg Work https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55106de7e4b0e379eb7efe1f/1687297232933-V2U6FFAXX4CW2G45AAGF/_SP_0682-larger.jpg Work - Korpe 1 out of 2, Korpe 2 out of 2 Korpe 1 out of 2, 2023 floor pillow, 47 cups, newspaper grocery ads Korpe 2 out of 2, 2022 floor pillow, 53 cups, newspaper grocery ads, cranberry concentrate, https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55106de7e4b0e379eb7efe1f/1631130565461-PCH6MHMUPYQ9V2OE0KIN/2021_04_26_Columbia_MFA_0124.jpg Work - Wolves Don't Cry 5-channel synchronized video installation, 12:00 minutes. 4 CRT monitors, 1 flat screen, white shag carpet, 4 pedestals of various heights, dog training collar, stones. 2021. Wolves Don’t Cry is a 5 channel synchronized video installation exploring my relationship with my brothers through play. We role play as a wolf pack and confront each other expectations and preconceived notions about each other. Gender, age, sexuality, masculinity, puberty, anger and shame are all main topics of discussion that come up. Each pedestal represents each of my brothers and the height of the pedestals is dependent upon the actual height of my brothers. I occupy the middle flat screen. An audio of a narrator reciting a story about our wolf pack ties together 5 screens. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55106de7e4b0e379eb7efe1f/1729806561247-XD7JYD654WQ2HGL142SC/image-asset.jpeg Work - TASKS, 2024 https://bronxmuseum.org/exhibition/6aim-biennial1/ TASKS, 2024 is a 2 channel synchronized video, capturing my experience volunteering as a Sheep Steward on Governors Island during summer 2023. The video is narrated via 2 separate voiceover tracks, one imitating animal documentary narration style and another imitating corporate training video narration. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55106de7e4b0e379eb7efe1f/1695933458743-87IJQWVI5KG40NUVGH3R/DSC_1354.jpg Work - Wolves Dont Cry https://www.gamu.cz/cs/warm-inflation/ WARM INFLATION GAMU (The Gallery of the Academy of Performing Arts) Prague Czech Republic 17. 2. – 25. 3. 2023 (opening: 16.2.2023) Aika Akhmetova, Ella CB, Sarah Dubná, Natasja Loutchko, SPIT (Marta Orlando, Clémentine Roy, Natasja Loutchko), Hana Garová, Mary Neely and Mika Bar-On Nesher curated by: Natálie Kubíková Each approach is represented in the exhibition as an intimate observational tool with which to collectively consider the concept of queerness within constructs such as family, friendships, relationships and other social interactions. Issues of family, neighborhood or cultural stereotypes are presented in a group exhibition of international female and non-binary authors. The works on display focus on artistic practices without explicitly recognizing contemporary queer culture and refer to more intimate levels of communication and transmission of information, resistance or background. The exhibition refers predominantly to the more intimate level of depicting female homosexual narratives and addresses the eclipse of lesbian presence in the collective imagination. Opening: čt 16. 2. 2023 od 18:00 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55106de7e4b0e379eb7efe1f/1631130722342-1H33HU7LRWPJ13L0DGBA/Aika+Akhmetova%2C+Traditionally+Unnurturing+Nurture+DSF9114.jpg Work - Traditionally Unnurturing Nurture, solo at A.I.R. Gallery https://www.airgallery.org/exhibitions/aika-akhmetova-traditionally-unnurturing-nurture The exhibition troubles our understanding of home as a site of safety and comfort by situating the viewer within an interior in which everything functional is made dysfunctional and every surface rejects and distorts the body. Touching upon themes of identity, tradition, dissociation, and abuse, Traditionally Unnurturing Nurture features a series of sculptural works made from objects found in a typical household: mirrors, window frames, bed slats, carpets. The functionality of these familiar objects, however, is purposefully twisted: the bathroom mirror is broken and partially transparent, revealing its intimate contents; the bathroom shag rug is infested with sunflower seed shells; the bedroom carpet is encrusted with acupressure spike mats (impossibly painful to lay on but wonderful for blood flow). But as Akhmetova attests, these violent modifications are done always “out of love.” Mirrored and reflective surfaces feature prominently in the works. Within the exhibition, viewers catch themselves and others reflected in the trappings of home, forced to relive Lacan’s mirror stage by registering or failing to register their own reflection. The effect is a splintering of the self, a hyper awareness of appearance and presence. Traditionally Unnurturing Nurture extends its arms, welcoming its guests just close enough to give them a good slap—perhaps too out of love. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55106de7e4b0e379eb7efe1f/1729806985764-1L1NP4FPLNKV5TZ5Z779/Nomadic+Pastoralism+reading.jpg Work - Nomadic Pastoralism, 2024 Performative lecture at The Bronx Museum https://bronxmuseum.org/event/6aim-biennial1-closing/ 2022 AIM Fellow Aika Akhmetova's piece 'Tasks' (2023) is on view in Part One of 'The Sixth AIM Biennial.' They describe the 'Nomadic Pastoralism' activation of their work in 'The Biennial' as follows: "A performative talk/lecture reflecting on the relationship between Kazakh identity and sheep. Starting with the background on Kazakh nomadic pastoralism, history of Kazakh famine of 1930-1933 and moving into current day racist tropes around Kazakh body and its relationship and or proximity to animals." For the full text from the performative lecture, please visit : https://www.aikaakhmetova.com/nomadicpastoralism-text https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55106de7e4b0e379eb7efe1f/1743716027597-9NT9G6OKH6Q151ZE8HRU/foundazioneelpis_mailbox.jpg Work - New Rage Fantasies 2024 found mailbox, chainlink spiderweb, fake flowers, candy wrappers, white tanktop, fake Adidas sweatpants, pair of blue women's flip-flops, pair of pink children's fake crocs, gum, scribbled writing on the mailbox. —- The following works are exhibited as part of the “YOU ARE HERE. Central Asia” group show at Fondazione Elpis. For press release and works by other artists in the show, please visit this link: https://fondazioneelpis.org/en/you-are-here-central-asia https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55106de7e4b0e379eb7efe1f/1743714155393-3H4IOQSY6J5Y6CFHUEIQ/06_The+Front+of+It.jpg Work - The Front of It 2023 Stick-on mirror paper, OSB, doilies, chains, nails, rope, Kazakh souvenir horsewhip (kamcha) invisible thread, sharpie 46 x 40 inches —- The following works were exhibited as part of “Homorientalism” group show at Smack Mellon in 2023. For press release and other artists in the show, please check out this link: https://www.smackmellon.org/exhibition/homorientalism/ https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55106de7e4b0e379eb7efe1f/1769707126549-LEC0U35A530Q5T0MW83O/_DSC0895-2+copy.jpg Work - Puppy's Play and Punishment Below Grand is pleased to present Puppy’s Play and Punishment, a solo exhibition of new installation, performance, and video work by Aika Akhmetova. An opening reception will be held from 5-7pm on Saturday, January 17th, and feature a performance by the artist. More public performances will take place throughout the run of the show, with a schedule to be announced via the Below Grand Instagram. Puppy’s Play and Punishment started in 2023 as a studio ritual. Amid a wave of anti-LGBTQ repression in Kazakhstan, Akhmetova turned to a solitary routine for comfort and freedom: they wore a collar and bowed in front of a mirror before every studio session. This devotional, playful act sprouted tendrils: they clipped on retractable leashes, bound their hands into paws, and wiggled like a puppy. In Summer 2025, Akhmetova took this very private practice and Puppy character out into historically queer public spaces on Fire Island, digging on Cherry Grove’s purple-sand beaches and rolling in the dunes. At Below Grand’s 53 Orchard St. space, Akhmetova transforms the smaller, interior gallery into a screening room for a multi-channel video installation, shot in peak summertime on Fire Island and now viewed in a cozy den outfitted with soft, welcoming furniture. We see Puppy get walked for the first time; we see Puppy whine amid a sunshower. In the storefront window, viewers see a web-like mass of retractable leashes, dog collars, chains, upholstery foam, and found objects, many specific to the Post-Soviet region, or to the artist’s preferred site of globalized everyday material culture—the dollar store. Akhmetova will perform within this installation: tethering themself to it, bowing in it, flaunting a repository of Puppy’s movements. A sinister energy lurks behind these shenanigans: looking closer, we notice Puppy’s range of motion is limited, as if by veterinary intervention, and that medical detritus litters the installation—Puppy, it seems, may have been coerced into belly button surgery. The taboos around sexual expression that initially inspired this project are re-played and transformed in the BDSM references in the work. Bondage and restriction reference kink acts and punishing societal constraints, all of it nutritious chow for Puppy’s defiant mischief. Puppy’s Play and Punishment is about re-framing brattiness and taboo as empowerment, fully letting go, and playing in the face of subjection. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55106de7e4b0e379eb7efe1f/1427838532795-BP9K227KKQV0JZY6E715/Untitled-3.jpg Work https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55106de7e4b0e379eb7efe1f/1427851068388-YWOW7CVUSMF9PE6LHJ6Z/IMG_5609.JPG Work https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55106de7e4b0e379eb7efe1f/1432676386933-ZHHW31HZML767SAQ10NU/image-asset.jpeg Work - Lemon (Collaboration with Silas Cheo) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55106de7e4b0e379eb7efe1f/1437601729126-85QXIC0OZROFLPCGRRV7/it%27sagrrrl1+new.jpg Work - IT'S A GRRRL Installation view, Mixed Media, 2015 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55106de7e4b0e379eb7efe1f/1435165119971-40T7ITKVDQPWGV8MKW7B/touchme+f.s.no5.jpg Work - F.S.No5, touch me Object, Mixed Media, 18x24 inches, 2 sides, 2015 https://www.aikaakhmetova.com/about daily 0.75 2026-02-05 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55106de7e4b0e379eb7efe1f/52328796-5d15-4eb7-878e-517ded153fef/Aika+Akhmetova_headshot_2025_web.jpg About - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.aikaakhmetova.com/home-page daily 1.0 2026-01-29 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55106de7e4b0e379eb7efe1f/1769707380475-B7MOCD4ABLTEC9ECF45X/20260117-_DSC0872-Enhanced-NR.jpg Home Page - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55106de7e4b0e379eb7efe1f/860507df-cff4-4947-8ade-fbf6d69b1175/foundazioneelpis_mailbox.jpg Home Page - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55106de7e4b0e379eb7efe1f/1713386203380-6ID8T9NBU2NC4CA5JBOI/20240330_The-Bronx-Museum_The-Sixth-AIM-Biennial_Aika_Akhmetova_2024_Image-By-Argenis-Apolinario_5473.jpg Home Page https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55106de7e4b0e379eb7efe1f/1743714168329-7JJXSYW3OA4PIFFVA7B8/01_Install+shot.jpg Home Page - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55106de7e4b0e379eb7efe1f/3d1931cc-4a2e-4283-a674-44e47424d477/Screen+Shot+2023-06-20+at+5.48.24+PM.png Home Page - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55106de7e4b0e379eb7efe1f/1695933452055-YRA6U1TROFGXMVYLRF01/DSC_1315+kopie.jpg Home Page https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55106de7e4b0e379eb7efe1f/1631129101922-O03VS1SWKS12MONISGEZ/5.+Wolf%27s+Don%27t+Cry+%282021%29.jpg Home Page installation view https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55106de7e4b0e379eb7efe1f/1631129550969-XIQL2JP1NV80UAQPFK5I/Aika+Akhmetova%2C+Traditionally+Unnurturing+Nurture+DSF9114.jpg Home Page https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55106de7e4b0e379eb7efe1f/1687297232933-V2U6FFAXX4CW2G45AAGF/_SP_0682-larger.jpg Home Page