A Blueprint of a Broken Engine (2025) Painting by Anastassiya Kotlova

Instagram and YouTube handle: @ana_kot_ch

Artist Bio

Born in Kazakhstan and currently based in Switzerland, Anastassiya is a multidisciplinary artist whose work bridges cultures, faiths, and personal histories. Moving to Switzerland at the age of 16, she brings a deeply rooted duality to her practice—drawing from both Eastern and Western traditions, as well as Islamic and Christian influences. Her early ion for art led her to attend art schools and culminated in a top grade in Visual Arts at the Higher Level of the International Baccalaureate.

Though life took her on a decade-long detour—filled with the demands of education, professional work in media communication, event management, and preservation, and the joys and trials of marriage and motherhood—art never left her. It lived quietly in the background, shaping her perceptions and ways of seeing the world.

In the wake of personal loss, particularly the grief of losing her third child during pregnancy, her artistic voice reawakened with urgency and raw emotional power. Today, she returns to the canvas with greater depth and clarity, painting as a form of healing, remembrance, and rediscovery. Her work speaks to themes of identity, transformation, and the sacred balance between fragmentation and wholeness.

Artist Statement

Art has always been my native language—the way I see, feel, and process the world. Since childhood, I’ve been drawing and painting as a natural response to life. Growing up in Kazakhstan and later moving to Switzerland, I carry within me a rich blend of cultural and spiritual influences that shape my artistic vision. Whether it’s the intricate patterns of Central Asia or the quiet harmony of European landscapes, the sacred geometry of mosques or the stillness of cathedrals, all of it finds a place in my work.

After years of living a life filled with commitments—career, family, education—I found myself silenced, creatively speaking. But grief has a way of cutting through the noise. When I lost my third child, my inner world ruptured, and painting became not just an outlet, but a lifeline. I returned to my practice not out of leisure but necessity—each brushstroke a prayer, a reckoning, a ing.

Now, I paint daily. My art is an act of reclaiming myself, of balancing the dualities within me: East and West, sacred and profane, light and shadow. Through bold color, layered textures, and symbolic imagery, I explore what it means to be whole in a fragmented world. My hope is that others might see their own stories reflected in my work—wounds and all—and find a sense of quiet recognition and connection.

• Nationality: KAZAKHSTAN
• Date of birth : 1992
• Artistic domains: Works by artists with a certified artist value,
• Groups: Contemporary Kazakh Artists