A contemporary Kazakhstani artist. Her works include video art, performances, actions, and film. Key methods in N. Kim’s practice include bodily experiments, irony, documentation, and social criticism. Key themes are gender inequality, power, conscience, cultural identity, feminism, patriarchy, society, standards, and everyday life.
She studied at E. A. Buketov Karaganda National Research University (Faculty of Art and Graphics, 1993–1996). In the late 2000s, she moved from her hometown to Almaty to work more actively in video art and participate in the projects of the Soros Center for Contemporary Art – Almaty.
N. Kim works at the intersection of documentary practice, video art, and ironic actionism. She documents the process of divorce and the transformation of a sacred wedding ring into an everyday necessity: she visits the registry office and turns her ring into a dental crown ("Divorce", 2006). She continues to explore the idea of transitional states and transformations, performing daily routines in a self-sewn caterpillar costume ("Caterpillar Walk", 2008). Women — like a caterpillar that, even after transforming into a butterfly, remains an insect — continue to depend on beauty standards and the norms of patriarchal society. N. Kim raises the issue of Eurocentrism and the rejection of individuality in favour of imposed ideals by documenting her plastic surgery to create a “European” eyelid ("Farewell, Asian Eyes...", 2009). She also draws attention to human rights, justice, and power by dressing as a snail in the context of the trial of lawyer Yevgeny Tankov ("Snail. In Search of Lost Conscience", 2014).
N. Kim’s artworks were exhibited in Kazakhstan and abroad: "Just Ku" ("Desht-i-Art" Centre, 2001); "Re-orientation" (ACC Gallery, Weimar, 2002); "In the Shadow of Heroes" (Bishkek, 2005); "On Geekdom" (Benaki Museum, Athens, 2007); "Destination – Asia: Sorting Out Stereotypes" (Project 88, Mumbai, 2007); "Central Asian Project" (London, 2007); "House of Tolerance" (SCCA, Almaty, 2008); "East of Nowhere: Contemporary Art from Post-Soviet Central Asia" (Fondazione 107, Turin, 2009); "Liberty/Freedom" and "Is There Any Hope for an Optimistic Art?" (MMOMA, Moscow, 2010).
Information about N. Kim is stored in the Documentation project collection — the archive of the Soros Center for Contemporary Art – Almaty (SCCA).
Photograph from Natalia Kim’s Facebook Page