A Little clay, a little paint, and so much feelings
I am Nigar Kazim - a young artist from Azerbaijan, known for sculpting with polymer clay. I started my career journey as an artist, won competitions, participated in exhibitions and received several grants for art projects. Then, I became interested in sculpture and found it rewarding as a means of developing my artworks.
This interest led me to create my brand of polymer clay products, Vilion's Flowers, which developed in two directions - jewelry and miniature. Over the years of brand growth, I managed to sell about a thousand products (in fact, I stopped counting after the 800th one back in 2019) to various parts of the world.
Polymer clay on canvas adds the third dimension to my works, deepens the composition, and makes it look realistic. Thanks to sculptural painting, I became a well-known artist in Azerbaijan. I cooperate with top art galleries of the country, including “Natavan Gallery” and “Mincesenet Gallery”.
My hard work paid off when I won two presidential grants from the Youth Foundation of the Republic of Azerbaijan. I carried out two large-scale projects – “Yaşıl Emalatxana” (Yashil Emalatkhana) and “Səyyar Yaşıl Emalatxana” (Seyyar Yashil Emalatkhana) in 2015 and 2016, consequently.
I believe in empowerment through the arts. Thus, the primary purpose of my projects was to promote diversity and the vision was reaching an inclusive society and gender equality. The projects focused on women and children living in remote villages of Azerbaijan. I organized art lessons for women and children, who wanted to improve their wellbeing by expressing themselves in art. We organized handicraft fairs, where most of the works were sold. I am proud to tell that both projects made a positive contribution toward empowering women and children in rural areas, as they learned to make, exhibit, and sell handicrafts. The skills women learned during our projects, impacted gender inequality by challenging women’s economic dependency.
I am a lifelong learner. I attended rug weaving and photography courses in Azerbaijan and Georgia. New skills provide me with more room for imagination and countless opportunities.
But, my creativity is not limited to this.
I am also the author of several competition-winning short stories. My stories were published in leading literary journals, "13", "Fantastic Almanac", "Academy of Philosophy", as well as on different online platforms. Usually, protagonists of my stories are members of vulnerable groups, including the elderly and people with mental disorders. I always try to amplify the “voice” of unnoticed segments of the society, which would largely go unheard.
Me and my people
The “Yashil Emalatkhana” project aimed to open small workshops for people living in remote villages and teach them how to make handicrafts by providing free supplies. For this, we visited three districts in three months. Just imagine: women and teenagers from the villages came there and together we tried to break local stereotypes about art, teach young housewives handicrafts so that they can be financially self-sufficient in the future. I visited Lerik, Qusar and Shaki, opened workplaces there and invited everyone who wanted to come and learn. During these three month I was able to touch and change lifes of more than hundred people, most of them women and young girls. That certainly was the most amazing time of my life and the most important thing I ever did.