Bakhyt Kadyrova

An artist based in Kazakhstan

A trained lawyer, Bakhyt worked in consulting for eight years. Her love for calligraphy began in 2017, and the adventure started with her making New Year cards together with her sons for the family. She had found some examples of beautifully handwritten cards on Pinterest, and was fascinated. This was the first time she entered the world of fine letters. Since then calligraphy became her main preoccupation.

A passionate student of calligraphy, Bakhyt immersed herself in international workshops, courses and conferences, learning new techniques, sharpening her skills, and learning to use letterforms in art. She was also approached to teach calligraphy. She spent time developing a Spencerian manual in Russian and conducted free “live” sessions on Instagram.

As opportunities for learning calligraphy are hard to come by in Almaty, Kazakhstan where she lives, Bakhyt mostly studied online and through manuals, besides calligraphy conferences and workshops. She counts herself fortunate to have studied with such great teachers as Yukimi Annand, Yves Leterme, John Stevens, Massimo Polello, Elmo van Slingerland, Carl Rohrs, Laurant Rébéna, Randall Hasson, Philippe Dabasse, Serge Cortesi, Barbara Close, Harvest Crittenden, Michael Sull, Michael Ward, Elena Alekseeva, among others.

In 2019, she participated in the 38th International Calligraphy Conference Rendez-vous in Sherbrooke, Canada, and the 70th IAMPETH Conference in Denver, USA. In 2020 she was invited to speak at the international calligraphy and lettering festival Calligrafest. Bakhyt was also involved in three art residencies where she produced award-winning works.

In the Symbiosis II exhibition, you can view Bakhyt’s process in developing several scripts and her explorations of calligraphic textures, translating them into various forms of wearable calligraphy.

Exhibitions

2022 Artist Book, Almaty

2022 Artist Books: Slowing Down, Moscow

2022 Artist Books, Saint Petersburg

2021 Artist Books: Summing up the Results, Moscow

2021 Visari Festival of Texts about Art, Novgorod

2020 Art Residence Artist Book by Elena Alekseeva

2019 ExpoCaligrafia International

Publications

2021 Speedball Textbook, 25th edition

2020 Scripsit Vol 42, No. 1

The Calligraphy Ideas Book, Octopus Books