Art of Her

Director Suinbike Suleimenova has launched a crowdfunding campaign for her new project "MÄMBET".

The upcoming documentary "MÄMBET" is a study of language segregation in Kazakhstan's cities and spheres of life, politics and art. This full-length documentary mockumentary will be full of provoking comic moments on the one hand, but representing one of the most painful problems of Kazakh society on the other. This film opens the way to the actualization of the Kazakh language for Kazakhs through linguistic activity, showing the main character Suinbike as a "shala-Kazakh" (Ed. not speaking Kazakh), aware of the need to learn their native language, forgotten and overlooked.

«Язык обладает огромным потенциалом в объединении людей, и моя цель — актуализировать современное использование казахского языка. Мы все чувствуем приближение волны актуализации, будь то в современном искусстве, активистских движениях, моде или музыке», — рассказал Суинбике Сулейменова о своём предстоящем проекте.

The task of the film project "MÄMBET" is to popularize the Kazakh language, to build bridges between Russian-speaking and Kazakh-speaking people in Kazakhstan, sometimes existing separately from each other in misunderstanding and disunity, deprived of a common language in the same country.

«Моя личная цель — вернуться к утраченному языку и соединиться с моей субъектностью через самостоятельную работу по изучению казахского языка. Для этого я от первого лица суперэкспонирую свой опыт балансирования между разными мирами понимания языков для достижения взаимности и эмпатии», — отмечает Суинбике Сулейменова.

The project requires 15,000 euros. At the moment, thanks to crowdfunding, we have managed to raise a little more than 300 euros.

Suinbike Suleimenova is a creative producer, curator, director specializing in activism. She has curated and organized solo exhibitions for several Kazakhstani artists, the Femagora Gender Equality Festival (art, cinema sections), TEDxAbay St. Women (art section), in addition to being an artist herself and annually participates in numerous exhibitions and projects. Swinbike has also made three documentaries and a lot of different video art, acted as an independent video production. Suinbike's latest project is the public program MÄTIL, dedicated to linguistic justice and the Kazakh language, the main component of which was an exhibition in virtual reality, curated by her in partnership with architect Aida Issakhankyzy, JAMAN ÖNER. The exhibition, which is still in operation, has become a platform for 50 Kazakhstani and international artists. Suinbike graduated from the Kazakh National University of Arts in Astana with a degree in cinematography.