“I think cinema is like a vessel that carries and remembers everything”, says internationally acclaimed Uzbek film director Saodat Ismailova (b. 1981). In 2005, she was part of the DAAD artist residency programme in Berlin, where she made her award-winning feature debut, Chilla: 40 Days of Silence – which premiered at the Berlinale in 2014. The film follows the story of four women in Central Asia at key points in their lives. Fast forward seven years and Ismailova established the Davra research group, which is specially dedicated to disseminating, documenting and studying Central Asian culture and knowledge. Now, the lauded contemporary video artist unveils her first retrospective in Italy at Pirelli HangarBicocca. The exhibition is called A Seed Under Our Tongue and it provides a sweeping survey across her multidisciplinary practice, which spans across cinema, sound and visual art. It brings together work from her 20-year career, immersing visitors in Ismailova’s intricate layering of memories, landscapes, personal and collective images. Her work explores cultural memory, ancestral knowledge and femininity, drawing on the socio-political and cultural heritage of her native Central Asia to reflect on key universal values.
Ismailova’s films explore memories, myths, rituals and dreams in the tapestry of everyday life. Her work is also informed by her homeland’s historically rich and multi-layered culture. The title A Seed Under Our Tongue refers to the new works on view, including the newly edited film Arslanbob (2023-24) and the related sculptures, the golden seed of Amanat (2024) and the resin cast of a cave in The Mountain Our Bodies Emptied (2024). These pieces draw upon an oral tale of a date seed hidden under the tongue and passed down through different generations until it itself is transformed. The concept of passing down knowledge, traditions and skills through generations sits at the heart of this show. Twelve works, six films and seven sculptures explore the question of transmission and the idea – in the artist’s words – “that we are responsible for the seven generations before us and the seven generations to come after us.”
Transmission, a recurring theme in Ismailova’s wider practice, includes the risk of loss as well as the notions of cyclicality and circularity. The exhibition’s structure also reflects on, and revolves around these implications, incorporating the histories of Central Asia’s two major rivers, the Amu Darya and the Syr Darya (Oxus and Jaxartes in Greek), whose waters once fed the now-arid Aral Sea. Designed in collaboration with Milan-based architectural studio Grace, the gallery space unfolds within two three-channel installations that envelope the space: Stains of Oxus (2016) and Arslanbob (2023-24). Both were shot respectively on the banks of the Amu Darya and across the Syr Darya in present-day Kyrgyzstan. The show metaphorically retraces the journey of the date seed, from its beginning in the mouth of a mythical figure named Arslanbob. It was then given as a gift to the most important mystic of Central Asia, Akhmad Yassawi, who is also considered the founder of the Arslanbob walnut forest. This story emphasises the contradictory nature of transmission, which transforms a date into a walnut.
Ismailova’s films and installations, with their striking iconography and hypnotic narratives, evoke the power of nature, the legacy of colonisation, and the delicate relationship between humanity and the environment. The essential thread connecting the work in A Seed Under Our Tongue is the concept of transmission — whether of knowledge, stories, memories or landscapes. The exhibition conjures up different narratives, creating a complex and multi-layered atmosphere. It’s an apt representation of Ismailova’s explanation of the camera having the power to “remember everything.” An archival tool, video preserves a visual representation of our lives for generations to come. Art can speak to the future.
Pirelli HangarBicocca, Saodat Ismailova: A Seed Under Our Tongue | Until 12 January
Image Credits:
- Saodat Ismailova Two Horizons, 2017 (video still) Two channel HD video installation, color, sound, 24’ Courtesy the Artist. © Saodat Ismailova.
- Saodat Ismailova The Haunted, 2017 (video still) HD video, color and black-and-white, sound, 23’20’’ Courtesy the Artist. © Saodat Ismailova.
- Saodat Ismailova Chillahona, 2022 (video still) Three-channel video installation (color, sound, 37’), embroidery (300 x 400 cm, light projection) Courtesy the Artist. © Saodat Ismailova
- Saodat Ismailova 18,000 Worlds, 2023 (video still), HD video installation, color and black-and-white, sound, 26’. Courtesy the Artist. © Saodat Ismailova.
