Bizkeste embroidery by Botagoz Zeinelkhan
Photo by Aleksei Malchenko
For more than 5,000 years, Kazakh nomads worshipped Tengri, an all-encompassing god and a personification of the universe. The natural world was simultaneously Tengri’s temple, shelter, and divine chaos. Through these beliefs, Kazakh nomads made sustainable choices to maintain environmental balance. While nomadism is no longer practiced in Kazakhstan, the rich heritage and worldview it birthed continues to evolve, thrive, and influence daily life.
Since 2020, the Smithsonian and the Union of Artisans Kazakhstan have collaborated on a series of projects to engage youth in learning about and participating in this heritage. Birthed from these collaborations, Soul of Tengri brought the story of Kazakh heritage and creativity to the Smithsonian Folklife Festival and the National Museum of Asian Art.
Through demonstrations, workshops, performance, and a special fashion show event, this community of artisans illustrated how they persist and transmit knowledge, from one generation to the next, and from their home country to the diaspora in the United States.
Photo courtesy of the artist
Embroidery is an ancient Kazakh handicraft, which Kazakh nomads used to adorn their households and clothing. The intricate designs of older embroidered items have inspired Botakoz Zeinelkhan to reach that level of craftsmanship with modern.
Botakoz has been creating embroidery since she was six years old. Her parents are renowned traditional hook-embroidery artists in Kazakhstan who surrounded her with the magic of embroidery art as she was growing up. Botakoz believes that embroidery offers endless possibilities for artists and that it should be shared with future generations, so it is not forgotten.
Photo courtesy of the artist
Syrmaq (felted carpet) is a distinctive artistic expression of the Kazakh people and their nomadic lifestyle. There were more than a hundred tribes form the Kazakh nation, each with its own syrmaq design. The word comes from syru, which means “to quilt.” Kazakhs make traditional syrmaqs with special lining and thick felt, which helps to preserve them for centuries.
Since childhood, Tamara Kapkyzy has been familiar with her grandmother’s spindle, her mother’s weaving loom, and her embroidery. She grew up spinning yarn and carrying water from a spring to wash and prepare the wool for her grandmother. When she was thirteen, she started to weave yurt bands during summer vacation. Tamara cannot imagine herself without teaching and making handicrafts. Every item she makes not only inspires and gives her strength but also comforts and calms her.
Photo courtesy of the artist
Dauren Minsharipov has been interested in handicrafts since childhood, when he made clay airplanes, various toys, wooden chests, and various boxes. His father noticed his talents and helped him start a career in art. Dauren graduated as a sculptor from the College of Applied Arts and as an arts teacher from the Pedagogical University. He is a teacher at the College of Applied Art in Turkestan, as well as an accomplished woodcarver and instrument maker.
The art of making musical instruments and woodcarving in general are traditionally passed from generation to generation. Dauren specializes in making musical instruments, especially qobyz, a shamanic instrument that steppe healers and shamans still use in many rituals. The qobyz is sacred and an important part of Kazakh national heritage. The sounds of qobyz inspire Dauren, whose love of the instrument motivated him to learn to play it.
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Mereke Aidarsha grew up watching her mother and sisters weave carpets and has helped her family with handicrafts since childhood. Above her bed was a family carpet, which she closely studied and tried to weave the pattern in her head—thereby sparking her interest in handicrafts. To this day, traditional Kazakh designs remain the main sources of Mereke’s inspiration.
Mereke started her art career after graduating as a textile artist from the International Kazakh-Turkish University, where she now teaches weaving and traditional arts. According to Mereke, the best way to understand Kazakh culture is study the variety of handicrafts, which reveal a great deal about the aesthetics, history, knowledge, and worldview of the Kazakh people. When Mereke was nine years old, her mother brought home a dombra, which Mereke learned to play.
Photo courtesy of the artist
Tilek Sultan has been interested in crafts since childhood. When he was six years old, he began helping his grandmother who made felt carpets and his sisters who sewed clothes and did embroidery. Tilek’s specialty is hook embroidery, known as bizkeste, which Kazakhs have used since ancient times. Inspired by these traditional techniques, Tilek makes national clothes and souvenirs, working with different fabrics and using all kinds of thread and even yarn.
Tilek explains, “I can’t imagine myself without crafts. It seems to me that my main mission in life is to practice this craft and teach embroidery. My goal is to introduce our rich culture to the world.”
Tilek also plays musical instruments: shanqobyz, which he learned from his grandmother, and dombra, which he learned from his brothers.
Photo courtesy of the artist
Bolat Beisbekov is a mixed-media artist, sculptor, and painter who creates art from clay, wool, skin, and bones—and who also loves to play qobyz. Bolat’s four sons and daughters are also artists and craft artisans who paint, weave, design, and work with leather. Everybody learns from one another in their family business in the creative industry. Bolat explains, “I learned that if you do what you love, it motivates you.”
As a graduate of the Shymkent art school, Bolat also researches the traditional art and lifestyles of his ancestors. He seeks handicraft innovations to make modern art with a Kazakh twist, like a traditional nomadic tekemet carpet made using modern felting techniques. His education—along with his passion for creativity, knowledge, skills, and hard work—have enabled Bolat to become one of the most successful producers of craft items in Kazakhstan.
Photo courtesy of the artist
Aizhan Bekkulova started as a producer in the film industry but switched careers to become more independent and to enjoy greater artistic freedom. An Academy of Arts graduate, she now teaches felting and art marketing, and she is a renowned felt designer who makes carpets, sculptures, clothes, accessories, and mixed-media arts.
Because traditional artisans had lower status than contemporary artists in Kazakhstan, Aizhan founded the Union of Artisans of Kazakhstan eleven years ago, with support from Chevron and EFCA NGO, to demonstrate that traditional art forms influence contemporary artists. The results have significantly changed the creative industries of Kazakhstan.
Apart from leading the union, Aizhan is a member of the National Committee of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Kazakhstan and the World Craft Council, where she represented the Central Asian Region for five years.
Photo courtesy of the artist
Azhar Altynsaka’s two grandmothers were artisans of embroidery, felting, and sewing who inspired her to start making embroidery at age seven. Later, as a volunteer for the Union of Artisans Kazakhstan, Azhar learned firsthand from rural artisans about traditional textile making and also the preservation and revival of intangible cultural heritage. She is graduating with a textile arts degree from the College of Applied Arts in June 2023.
Inspired by traditional Kazakh textiles, Azhar studies various embroidery techniques. She has a particular passion for tuskiiz and tuskeste—sacred embroidered wall carpets that symbolize family lineages and abundance and that traditionally hang in the most sacred part of the yurt, serving as gates to the spirit world and communication with Tengri (Turkic god).
Aizhan Bekkulova, Ashkhen Khudaverdyan, Curators
Azhar Altynsaka, Program Coordinator
Claudia Foronda, Program and Special Events Manager
Halle Butvin, Curatorial Advisor
James Deutsch, Editor
The Soul of Tengri pop-up program was made possible by support from Chevron, celebrating thirty years in Kazakhstan.
This program would not have been possible without the vision, initiative, and collaborative spirit of Leila Aitmukhanova and Aizhan Bekkulova.
U.S. Embassy Kazakhstan provided critical foundational support for past collaborations between the Smithsonian and Union of Artisans Kazakhstan.
The public programs team at Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art provided a home for Soul of Tengri special events, through the Artisan in Residence Program collaboration.
Special thanks to Janice Arnold for her participation, collaboration, and passion for Kazakh felting heritage.
