Girls of Kyrgyzstan, 2011
Photographic Series
Text by Sara Raza
Having spent several years dissociated from what was happening inside Kyrgyzstan following her move to the UK, Shaden employed Facebook to connect with a community of girls from the capital of Bishkek for the series "Girls of Kyrgyzstan" (2011).
In the context of the exhibition " Swear That," the 3rd part of "Seeing Is Believing: The Art & Influence of Jean Leon Gerome," a collaboration between Mathaf Modern & Lusail Museum, Shaden's series expands Orientalism horizontally (Eastward) & speaks to a particular type of Soviet Orientalist representational genre of portraits of young women from Central Asia.
Such images were part of a programme of inherent imperial visual-cultural propaganda that sought to highlight progress made by women under the USSR. Subverting this narrative, Shaden's girls play with technology to limit the social 'players' who can participate in 'their' network. For this group, this is just one way of reclaiming a sense of autonomy & creating a resistance counterculture of digital citizenry.
Published in "Punk Orientalism - The Art of Rebellion" Book by Sara Raza; Black Dog Press,2022
Installation View, I swear I saw that, Mathaf Modern, Doha, 2025. Curated by Sara Raza