Saodat Ismailova “When the Water Turns to Wind” at Portikus, Frankfurt

Uzbek artist Saodat Ismailova has opened a major solo exhibition, "When the Water Turns to Wind," at Portikus in Frankfurt. The presentation features a new, immersive film installation that weaves together ancestral myths, sonic landscapes, and the ecological history of Central Asia, focusing on the region's disappearing rivers and steppes. The work continues her long-term exploration of memory and cultural preservation.

Ismailova's exhibition is significant as it brings critical visibility to the environmental and cultural transformations of post-Soviet Central Asia within a leading European contemporary art institution. Her poetic, research-based practice offers a vital counter-narrative to geopolitical stereotypes, positioning indigenous knowledge and spiritual traditions as crucial forms of ecological and historical testimony amidst climate change and modernization.