Art & Exhibitions

Tapestry Pioneer Batima Zaurbekova Is Overdue for an International Audience

A landmark retrospective in Almaty traces the career of one of Kazakhstan’s most celebrated artists.

Batima Zaurbekova, Contemplation (2000). Courtesy of Courtesy of Abylkhan Kasteyev National Museum of Arts of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Almaty.

by Annikka Olsen Nov 3, 2026

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Batima Zaurbekova is among Kazakhstan’s most celebrated artists. Beyond its borders, however, her name is far less known. The gap says less about her work than about who has been doing the looking—and framing.

Zaurbekova was a pivotal figure in establishing Kazakhstan’s national school of tapestry, and “Threads of Heritage” at Almaty’s marks her 80th birthday with more than 80 works, mostly tapestries, accented by paintings and drawings. The show moves chronologically but reads her work through two lenses at once: Kazakh themes and motifs, and the figures and ideas of Western Modernism.…