Almaty-based artist creates one-of-a-kind Kenesary khan portrait
Take a closer look and you will see that Assel’s one-of-a-kind portraits of icons and historical personalities are shaped of clusters of tiny people.
As for instance her latest work – a portrait of Kenesary khan, the last khan of the Kazakh people and the leader of the national uprising attempting to shake the colonial rule of the Russian Empire (1837-1847).
Assel says the portrait of Kenesary khan is a special one as it is made up of 300 tiny figures of people, the exact number of sarbazes (soldiers) he led in the latest uprising. It took the artist two days to create the portrait with the help of a felt-tip eyeliner.
Born in Almaty, Assel was 5 when she discovered her love for painting. In the past years she used the unique technique of banding together figures of tiny people to create iconic portraits of Alash Orda Movement leaders, namely Alikhan Bukeikhanov, Akhmet Baiturssynov, Mirzhakyp Dulatov, as well as historical figures Kerei and Zhanibek khans, and prominent Kazakh statesman Dinmukhamed Konayev.
It bears to remind that this year Kazakhstan marks 220 years since the death of Kenesary khan