Tsuen Wan The Mills |CHAT at The Mills: False Hope or Moment of the Present

Description

Kazakh artist Gulnur Mukazhanova created these large-scale collage installations by cutting, deconstructing and reassembling traditional Central Asian textiles.

In weddings and other celebrations in Kazakhstan, brightly coloured fabrics are often given as gifts to convey blessings. Over time, however, these vividly patterned textiles have lost their practical value, and gift-giving has become increasingly formalised. Although the custom is still observed, its essence is fading.

Mukazhanova cut patterns from different fabrics and assembled them with pins to create new forms. These collages are dazzlingly beautiful from a distance, but the pins holding them together suggest fragility, instability and the possibility of collapse. The series juxtaposes visual splendour with vulnerability, symbolising a contemporary world marked by rapid development and the loss of traditional roots – a place where beauty and harmony coexist with anxiety and unease.