[1] Her artistic practice focuses on decolonial reimaginings of gender, environmental degradation, as well as Eurasian nomadic and indigenous cosmologies and mythologies, highlighting geopolitical realities that shape the contemporary Kazakhstan.
Her educational background in the Soviet avant-garde school of Futurism allowed her to bridge the past and present, as well as tradition and innovation, in her creative journey.
[9] A dreamy, surrealistic mixture of documentary and fantasy, Transoxiana Dreams explores the desertification through the eyes of a fisherman's daughter as the main protagonist.
[10] The girl's father encounters strange mythical female creatures during his journey as he ventures for new fishing grounds – scarce leftover of what once was Aral Sea.
[13] Set against the vast landscape of the steppe, it traces what's left of Tengriism – where the skygod Tengri is the main deity[14] and his wife, Umai, the all-nurturing mother goddess of the Turkic Siberians.
[16] In her film, “Kissing Totems”, it is about a set of surrealist actions and impossible encounters happened on the territory of a deserted factory from the Soviet era.
One the Road is one of Almagul Menlibayeve's artworks blends in poetry into video and performance that being presented in a unique setting as brings topic of Islamic cultural tradition and contemporary art together.
The following is her own artist statement towards On the Road:[17] My educational background is in the Soviet Russian avant-garde school of Futurism, which I combine with a nomadic aesthetic of post-Soviet, contemporary Kazakhstan – something that I have been exploring in recent years through my photographic and video work.