Zulfiya Spowart
(b. 1991, Uzbekistan) lives and works in London, United Kingdom. Her formal education in monumental painting laid the foundation for her artistic identity. Rooted in the reinterpretation of mural techniques, her multidisciplinary practice unfolds primarily through textiles dyed naturally and extends into wood carving, watercolor, and digital art.
At the core of Spowart’s conceptual approach lies a theme of corporeality and identity. Through her artistic research, she seeks to connect with the past and inherited memories of previous generations — tracing stories of migration, cultural shifts, and the post-Soviet transformations of Central Asia. Every stitch on vintage textiles evokes memory, uncovering layered meanings within objects, gestures, and traditions. Through this process, meticulous handwork grows into a meditative ritual — a quiet act of remembrance and transformation.
Becoming a mother marked a significant turning point in the artist's life — this experience profoundly reshaped her perception of the world and has had a strong impact on her artistic practice. Through the lens of motherhood, Spowart perceives time, care, corporeality, and vulnerability in new ways. This has deepened her attention to tactility, repetition, memory, and ritual in her creative process. Her realistic personalities shift into textile abstract sculptures and installations and act as a liminal bridge between realities. Folkloric characters function as guides, carrying fragments of lost, distorted, or forgotten histories — questioning the present through the lens of myth and mysticism.
In 2025, Spowart was an artist-in-residence at Art’otel Hoxton and participant in London Design Biennial, Somerset House, London, United Kingdom. Recent solo and group exhibitions include “In/Visible” Group Exhibition”, Galleria d’East, Compiègne, France (2025), “Elly-Belly” Solo Exhibition, London, UK (2024), “The Mirror” Group Exhibition, Tashkent, Uzbekistan (2024), “The First Art Festival for young artists”, Tashkent, Uzbekistan (2024). Her works are part of the permanent collection at the Ruhsor Museum of Contemporary Art in Samarkand, the public collection of Regeneration Gallery in Tashkent, as well as various private collections.
Exhibitions:
2025 “Surface Reflections” The Silk Road pavilion - London Design Biennial, Somerset House, London, UK
2025 “In/Visible” Group Exhibition”, Galleria d’East, Compiègne, France
2024 “Elly-Belly” Solo Exhibition, London, UK
2024 “The Mirror” Group Exhibition, Tashkent, Uzbekistan
2024 “The First Art Festival for young artists”, Tashkent, Uzbekistan
2019 “Another Spaces” Kvartira showroom Exhibition of five female artists from Tashkent, Uzbekistan
2018 “Art-Space” Opening of an art studio, Tashkent, Uzbekistan
2017 “Tsvetaeva. Phaedra" Exhibition of three artists at the Theater. Mark Weil, Tashkent, Uzbekistan
2016 “Pop-Up” Caravan Gallery - Art Fair organized by “My Day Group”, Tashkent, Uzbekistan
2016 “Pop-up” Madrassah of Abdullhasim Sheikh - Art Fair organized by “My Day Group”, Tashkent, Uzbekistan
Artist in Residence:
01.02.2025-31.03.2025 Art’otel Hoxton, London, UK
Press:
2025 Elle Uzbekistan -A Silk Road Reimagined:Teplo Store Brings Central Asian Design to London Design Biennial
2025 Elle Uzbekistan - Textile threads: stories of motherhood in the works of a yang artist https://elleuzbekistan.com/en/textile-threads-stories-of-motherhood-in-the-works-of-a-young-artist/
2020 Magazine My Day Special Spring cover myday-special
https://www.yumpu.com/ru/document/read/63185501/myday-special-2020/17
2019 Interview about the city of Tashkent at weproject.me https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/weproject.media/articles/detail/kak-pomenyalsya-tashkent-za-10-let-i-kakim-by-khoteli-videt-gorod-ego-zhiteli/%3famp=y
2019 Creativity, business and motherhood interview cafb.asia
2018 Opening of the art studio Masterskaya Art Space
at myday.uz
https://myday.uz/news/otkritie-art-masterskaya
and at afisha.uz
2018 Establishments with art at myday-special-2018
https://www.yumpu.com/ru/document/read/63177126/myday-special-2018/119
2017 Exhibition “Tsvetaeva. Phaedra" at the Mark Weil Theater at mayday.uz
2016 Preview of Art Fair participants