Of art and plastic bags: the artist at work

December 1, 2015

Saule Suleimeinova is, among other things, a cellophane painter. Born in Almaty in 1970, she is one of Kazakhstan’s most profound artists. Her work has been exhibited around CIS countries, the U.S. and Europe. When she was younger, the artist used hippie and punk cultures as a medium of protest against “proper” Soviet Society. To this day, she continues to protest the darker aspects of humanity through art.

Photo by Saule Dyussenbina

Suleimeinova arrived October 24 to participate in Topografica, the art exhibition currently up at AUCA, and got to work immediately. She brought along her “paint”--hundreds of colorful plastic bags from Almaty collected through pleas on social media. Equipped with markers, scissors, and plastic bags, she started her underpainting on a large piece of fiberglass. The art would later be hung up on AUCA’s walls.

Plastic bags, horrendous and ubiquitous by-products of modernity, transform into something beautiful.

Suleimeinova wanted students to be part of the process. Every day for the next five days, the platform near the main hall would be covered with students and emotions at work. Students hovered around the fiberglass canvas--some with scissors and some with hot glue guns. Their guns trained on pieces of plastic, the mosaic was a revolution itself. Each student was lost in their own thoughts--perhaps a change was taking place in them at that very moment. The artist looked up at the students and smiled.

“I remember in the Soviet times, my mother used to wash the milk plastic bags and carefully hang them up to dry and re-use. But now, the plastic bags are everywhere- it has become a global issue to be concerned about” Suleimeinova said. “Plastic doesn’t stick with anything else, only high temperature do the work. We use hot glue guns.”

“The intensive colors of the plastic bags I use are quite alluring, and like people, they come in transparent and opaque forms”, laughed the artist.

Suleimeinova’s cellophane painting is on exhibition at AUCA through Topografica until December 10th.

Usha Rajak

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