Aidan Salakhova, is an internationally acclaimed Azeri artist living in Carrara, Italy with a career extending over twenty years. In 1987 Salakhova graduated from the Moscow State Surikov Institute of Fine Arts, where she then became a professor. Salakhova founded the Aidan Gallery in 1992, cementing her influence on the development of contemporary art in post-Soviet Russia. Since then, she has become an Academician of the Russian Academy of Fine Arts in 2007 and is now the founder and owner of Aidan Studio.
Salakhova’s work revolves around confronting portrayals of veiled female figures which reveal contradictions of the patriarchal order. Aidan urges the viewer to unearth societal enigmas; from the role of women to patriarchal
neuroses which have lingered for centuries. The veil, which transcends different cultures and religions since antiquity, is a pivotal metaphor in Salakhova’s oeuvre. The slither of fabric enables Salakhova to address political, social, psychological and spiritual aspects of both the Islamic and Orthodox worlds.
Salakhova’s own artworks feature prominently in many private and state collections including; the State Tretyakov Gallery, the Moscow Museum of Modern Art, the Ekaterina Cultural Foundation, Francois Pinault Foundation, Teutloff Museum and
the Boghossian Foundation and also in the private collections of I. Khalilov, P-K. Broshe, T. Novikov, V. Nekrasov, and V. Bondarenko amongst others0.
Since 1990 Salakhova has held over 30 solo shows in Moscow, St. Petersburg, New York, Berlin, Paris and Baku. In 1990 her work was part of the Soviet pavilion at the 44th Venice Biennale and in 2011 she worked on the 54th Venice Biennale’s Azeri pavilion.