Image: Victoria and Albert museum sculpture collection
Aziza Kadyri’s installation will be on display from 12 September 2026 to 9 January 2027 at the Victoria and Albert Museum’s South Kensington site, in the Islamic Middle East section’s Jameel Gallery.
Responding to the V&A’s historic suzani collection, the London-based Uzbek visual artist reimagines the textile tradition through ‘Sender Unknown’, a shifting installation exploring the intersection of AI, art and craft.
The installation combines suzani embroidery techniques with digital textile printing, while a bespoke AI model was used to develop a new language of suzani symbols that female artisans in Nurota, Uzbekistan, embroidered by hand.
Suzani are intricately hand-embroidered textiles traditionally made for a bride’s dowry and are described by the V&A as one of Uzbekistan’s most significant cultural traditions. Moving between handcrafted and digital processes, ‘Sender Unknown’ asks whether technologies that risk erasing histories can instead be reimagined as tools for preservation and reinterpretation.
The display is part of the V&A’s Jameel Programme, marking 20 years of the Jameel Gallery with Community Jameel.
