blue RGB-0 175 202, Yellow RGB-254 197 12

or #WhothefuckisGaishaMadanova

action/public Intervention, 2020

printed poster, 70x100 cm, 15 editions.

This work is a public intervention on the streets of Zagreb using one of the city’s most noticeable features: posters. The developed content of the poster is based on the original color palette of the national Flag of Kazakhstan and my full name written with the exact identical font that in use for the official passport of Kazakhstan. The idea behind this work is referring to the artist's full name as an indication of the body as a carrier of historical and political developments. Within the Western context, my name often by mistake pronounced like the Japanese traditional entertainer Geisha. Not many people can associate it with the East culture and that the origin of the name Gaisha comes from the Arabic female name Aisha, which is very popular among the Muslim World. My surname Madanova directly pointing to some Slavic roots because of the suffix -ova. Traditionally my family name comes from the name of my great-grandfather Madan due to the introduced concept of surnames in tsarist times to combat tribalism and aristocracy when Kazakhs were enrolled in educational institutions. After the establishment of Soviet power on the territory of Kazakhstan, the mass assignment of Russian-style surnames began with the endings -ov(a), -ev(a).

By occupying public space through the guerilla poster action I attempt to reflect the notion of belonging rooted to the historical reality and questions about national supremacy, identity, and the phenomena of being an outlander. Placing this poster in the street of Zagreb like some kind of promotion of persona or candidate for the election I am stating my presence in the city while the public who sees this poster with some weird mix between "Japanese-Arab-Russian" name questioning who the fuck is Gaisha Madanova?

the intervention took place in Zagreb city, 2020

within the WHW Akademija program