Illustrations
This is a small selection of my illustrations.
I love exploring simple forms and textures, playing with 'kazakhness', and trying to show someone like me that art is open to anyone, whether you have a specific education or not.
BEYOND THE CANVAS
Books, cinema & shared spaces
Paintings
To be honest, I cannot gather into words my practice. But maybe that is okay?
I love colours, plain language, and unpolished, naive, simple gestures.
Books
My experience in writing books for kids is humble, with two books done in collaboration with the lovely Tentek Publishing House.
Знакомьтесь! Батыр · Meet Batyr
The book can be bought across Kazakhstan.
Written by sima omarkulova, illustrated by Aigerim Amanchiyeva. A children’s book about the life and music of Batyrkhan Shukenov, published in 2022.
Life, work, and the wonderful heritage left by one of the greatest Kazakh musicians - Batyrkhan Shukenov.
sima omarkulova on Meet Batyr
«Надеюсь, что путь Батыра, полный любви к музыке, упорному труду, родным, друзьям, стране и к самой жизни, вдохновит детей»
Сәлем, Алматы! · Salem, Almaty!
The book can be bought across Kazakhstan.
Co-written by sima omarkulova and Gulnar Nauryzbai, illustrated by Katya Bolatova. An illustrated guide to Almaty’s history, architecture and everyday life, published in 2023.
Written in co-authorship this book tells the story of Almaty, my home town, by embracing its wonderful history.
On Salem, Almaty!
“…a true declaration of love for Almaty…”
Excerpt translated from Russian.
365 movie calendar
A special place in my heart is taken by the cinema (rent free <3)
Together with my friends, we created a movie calendar with 366 movies for each day of the year, each selected for a specific occasion. I mostly added films created by women filmmakers under the hashtag #womenmakefilm.
24FEMMESPERSECOND
Film Club and Zine on the Female Gaze in Cinema
24FEMMESPERSECOND - is an independent cinema project dedicated to women filmmakers and the female gaze in film history. The project includes a self-published zine series with three issues released: issue 1 celebrates female friendship, the second issue focuses on coming-of-age stories directed by women, and the third on family portraits. The next issues, as well as the project itself, are on hold for now.
Cinema club 24FEMMESPERSECOND
Alongside the publication, I curate an offline movie club where we discuss films by women directors. The project creates a space for collective viewing, reflection, and conversation around women’s voices in film.
Cannes film festival
I first visited the festival in 2023 under the "3 Jours à Cannes" program.
In 2024, received festival accreditation as an industry professional. It's funny how during my last visit, I managed to give an interview to the Letterboxd team, where besides of talking about movies, I said hi to my doggo!
2024. Salle Debussy. Before Ariane Labed's debut feature "September says".
2024. Letterboxd team gifted me this sticker pack after I gave them an interview <3
2023. Happy to be in Cannes for the first time!
Workshops
In the past did some workshop curation. Gathering people who love crafting, as we do, to do something with our hands and share stories was part of the practice in TARTPA.
felting workshop
remembering the practices of our ancestors and trying to recreate the way they worked with felt. we created tiny art-works/carpets so that we could hang them on the wall just like our grannies did.
collage workshop
remembering our ancestors and particularly grandmothers while creating a collage work dedicated to them
collage workshop
dedicated to our ancestors
felting
workshop with elder people, making naive pieces of art
felting
workshop with young adults, re-learning the work our kazakh grannies did on a daily basis
Film photography projects
Alongside organising creative workshops and fundraising art events, initiated a film photography project dedicated to dogs: visited participants in their homes and photographed them on 35mm film. Each session included a short interview about their bond and daily life. The project raised 420,000 KZT for local dog shelters through merch and art-based fundraising activities. A short behind-the-scenes video from the project can be viewed here.
Film photography
Sometimes I shoot on 35mm film. My main focus is the poetry of everyday things.
