MENMIN
by Leyla Mahat
MENMIN is a solo exhibition by Leyla Mahat dedicated to the theme of self-determination and inner choice. The title translates as “This is me” and reflects a personal stage of transformation the artist has experienced over the past two years. The project addresses personal responsibility, the rejection of external noise, and the search for inner grounding.
About the Artist
Leyla Mahat is a contemporary Kazakh artist,curator, and gallery owner. She is the director of the KULANSHI ART GROUP gallery network and president of the Eurasian Academy of Arts. She is also a professor in the Department of Painting and Sculpture at the Kazakh National University of Arts. She holds a PhD in Fine Arts. She is a visiting professor in the Department of Drawing and Painting at Jan Długosz University in Częstochowa (Poland).
Curator's Note
My new exhibition is called MENMIN. It's me. What happened to me in the last two years was reflected in my works, and my paintings influenced all processes in my life. What has happened? New emotions, new projects, new experiences, and hopes. Stories appeared that were not there before. Perhaps I have become more reserved in relationships. With family and friends, with acquaintances and strangers, with the choice of new projects, with color and shape. Why? I can't answer definitively. Perhaps it's all a matter of timing. Which time - is an incredible shame to waste on empty things. Everything has become somehow... simpler? Competition, intrigue, showdowns, information flows, and many other things suddenly became useless. What has become important is what is accepted by the heart and becomes part of oneself. Most likely this has always been the case, it just took a lot of time to understand it... Very often, we say: "The world has gone crazy!" Is that so? The world is us. So we've gone crazy. "The times are such!" - when were they different? Every Self, every MENMIN is filled with ourselves. What will we fill ourselves with? It's a choice. Not always simple and not always easy. No one and nothing will help you make the right choice. And what is the right choice? For whom is it right? You should not haul responsibility for your actions, thoughts, decisions onto someone else, no matter how wonderful he/she/they are. No need to lie. You have to choose. Yourself. I chose. Of course, we change every day, hour, and second. But how to change and where to go depends only on us. Did you choose? MENMIN - who is he/she for you?
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