A contemporary Kazakhstani artist. His works include sculpture, installations, performances, video art, and photography. Key methods in Y. Meldibekov’s practice cover laughter, absurdity, carnival, and surrealism. Key themes are power, the deconstruction of historical memory, collective memory, and the search for national identity.

Y. Meldibekov studied at the Oral Tansykbaev College of Decorative and Applied Arts (Almaty, 1980–1984) and the Kazakh National Academy of Arts named after Temirbek Zhurgenov (Department of Sculpture, Almaty, 1987–1992). Together with Kanat Ibragimov, he was a member of the art group "Kokserek" (1994) and the collective Neue Kasachische Kunst (1997).

In his practice, Y. Meldibekov explores themes of historical memory, tradition, and taboo. His works are dualistic and reinterpret monuments of the past ("Five Versions of the Fall of the Author", 2024). Wooden construction sets for children ("Transformer", 2013) and carnival characters in artistic scenes ("Independence Day", 2011) are placed in a space of acute reality and feel like fleeting performances. The surrealism of the images is manifested through visual analogies ("Lenin's Peak", 2007–2014, and "The Map of Genghis Khan, or The Hide of the Red Horse", 2007), while familiar symbols are reduced to absurdity ("Wolf Ram", 1997).

Y. Meldibekov's artworks were exhibited in Kazakhstan and abroad, including "Re-Orientation: Kunst zu Mittelasien" (ACC Gallery, Weimar, 2002), "Time of the Storytellers: Narrative and Distant Gaze in Post-Soviet Art" (Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki, 2007), "Between Heaven and Earth – Contemporary Art from the Centre of Asia" (Calvert 22, London, 2011), "BALAGAN!!! Contemporary Art from the Former Soviet Union and Other Mythical Places" (Nordwind Festival, Hamburg, 2015), "Signature Art Prize" (National Museum of Singapore, Singapore, 2018), "Buran – Baikonur," "Between the Silk Road and the Milky Way" (2024, Tselinny Center of Contemporary Culture, Kazakhstan), and "Documentation: Imagining Central Asia on the Map of Contemporary Art" (2025, Tselinny Center of Contemporary Culture, Almaty).

Information about Y. Meldibekov's work is stored in the Documentation project collection — the archive of the Soros Center for Contemporary Art — Almaty (SCCA).

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Photograph provided by Yerbossyn Meldibekov