Jelil

“I am Jelil. I am from Turkmenistan and Russia, and since 2023 – from the Netherlands as well. The experience of inhabiting these different countries deeply influences me and my art.

In my photographs, I try to leave a measure of space for the viewer so that they may inhabit my work with their own meanings, associations, and emotions. I want us to observe together the calm, casual sexuality of the human body – the way it is vulnerable, fragile, but also relaxed.
Last year, I graduated from the Orientation Year course at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam.”