Biography

							Biography
It all started with a drawing that I did when I was three years old
and proudly called ‘Dad The Telephone’. Big receiver coupled with two
eyes surrounded by spectacles for a dial and a curly moustache that
turns into the spiral cable created a character that was, really,
nothing like my dad. From then on, I could not stop drawing – paper,
walls, napkins, anywhere and everywhere became my drawing surface; I
saw people, made up characters and created scenes – I was in a rush
to register everything that was going on around me. One of the many
challenges for a three year old included stealing eyeliner from my
mom’s makeup bag when I could not find anything to draw with, to
scribble on the tablecloth at a dinner party we would be attending as
a family… I drew what I saw and what I didn’t see; interpreting life
around me through drawing became an integral part of me.

My greatest mentor, Katana Gazi Sharifova, took a chance on me
when I was only four, and took me in to study at the well known
children’s gallery in Baku, Azerbaijan. At the age of six I had
my first personal exhibition, and was described as the youngest
artist in the country to have had her own show. The second personal
exhibition followed when I was ten, along with various prizes for
regional and international children’s art competitions. My work grew
throughout my life and studies as our family moved from Baku to
Istanbul, Turkey, and then to London, England.

Whilst at school I have discovered a new interest in life sciences
and have then completed degrees in biology and molecular medicine.
The natural world became an inexhaustible source of inspiration
for me and is slowly setting the stage for where some of my work may
be heading. At the same time, nostalgia for Baku, my birth place,
infiltrates a lot of my work, strengthening my identity as an Azeri
contemporary artist and sharing my roots and culture with the rest of
the world.

Past Exhibitions
     2009 NICOLA Youth Festival, Earl's Court Exhibition Centre,
      London
     2009 Bow Arts Trust Open Studios, Bow, London
     2009 Pass:on by Slow Motion Thoughts Productions, Stephen
      Lawrence Gallery, Greenwich
     2009 Art Show Zurich, Zurich West, Switzerland
     2009 Pax Republic Convention, Zygote installation painting,
      Blackie, Liverpool
     2009 Pass:on, Slow Motion Thoughts Productions, Deptford,
      London
     2009 Kapricornian Voyage, The Crypt Gallery, Euston, London
     2008 Vitreous Tales, St Mary le Bow Church, St Paul's, London
     2008 Master Lounge, Marylebone, London
     2007 Christie’s Charity Staff Auction, King St, London
     2006 Drawn From Experience, Homestead Gallery, Clerkenwell,
      London
     2006 The Inspired Art Fair - Prelude, Spitalfields, London
     2001 Young Azeri Artists’ Exhibition, Humay Gallery, London
      Bridge, London