A Street Art Tour in Astana, Kazakhstan

Arriving in Kazakhstan a couple of days early for a tour of Central Asia, I signed up to a street art tour in Astana, the capital. I find that street art often provides an insight into the life and culture of a city. The street art tour in Astana was no different.

I found Dmitriy, a Russian speaking Kazakh on Instagram. He was happy to take me on a street art tour of Astana but warned me in a message “My English is on LOW level. My main language is Russian.”

Meeting Dmitriy for our Street Art Tour

Others from our Central Asia tour joined me and Bronek on the tour. Walking from our accommodation in the new part of the city, where tall glass clad skyscrapers, less than 30 years old, glitter in reflected sunlight, we crossed the Ishim River to meet Dmitriy on the old side of Astana.

It’s the first time Dmitriy has led a tour in English. He nervously begins his spiel with the help of Google Translate. It soon becomes obvious that this won’t work, and we suggest he does the best he can with his limited English. Once he relaxes, we settle into a comfortable rhythm.

Why is most of Astana’s street art in the old quarter?

There’s a reason why most of Astana’s street art is hidden in the city’s old quarter. Windowless ends of the five-storey, 1960s Soviet apartment blocks provide the perfect canvas for bold and vibrant street art.

On one wall, a mural depicts a boy and girl racing on horseback. They’re playing a traditional Kazakh game. The boy’s goal is to snatch the girl’s scarf and steal a kiss. If he misses, she gets to whip him. But, as Dmitriy says, she usually lets him win so that she can “catch” him herself.

Reminders of Arthur Stace

A simple work of hearts surrounding a written message reminds me of Arthur Stace who used to write “Eternity” in chalk on the streets of Sydney. Here in Astana, a street cleaner carried a can of paint and a brush with him as he worked. He became famous for painting hearts all over the city with the message ” we wish happiness to everyone.”

Attempting to reduce tagging, the city pasted artworks on film around electricity boxes. The strategy isn’t working particularly well. There’s a tag in the mottled grey sky above a little bird in a sea of flowers.  

Dmitriy warns us to watch our step as we follow the edge of a drain running parallel to the high wall outside the old Soviet football stadium. Large metal grids once covered the drain. All but one have been stolen and sold off for scrap metal.

Peering over the wall of the crumbling football stadium beyond the cracked concrete seats, I spot graffiti from international artists. These pieces won’t last—the stadium is slated for demolition.

A Kazakh ritual, an eagle and a musician

A work by Ramamurty illustrates the Kazakh ritual (shashu)of throwing candy at weddings and other celebrations. A woman wearing a long yellow skirt and green jacket throws wrapped sweets across the face of a white wall.

I gasp as we turn a corner to come face to face with a bright yellow sun shining down on an eagle painted. Russian artists took five days to paint the photorealistic work which is lit up at night. The work reflects the Kazakh flag: a soaring steppe eagle beneath a yellow sun on a blue background.

Darkhan Juzz, a Kazakh musician, stands with his guitar over his shoulder, in front of a Kazakh shield. Writing from a song by the musician translates as “the song of this beautiful world never stops.” Juzz tragically died in a motorcycle accident in Thailand and his musician friends paid for and dedicated the work to him.

Behind the Soviet Apartments

We walk through patches of overgrown weeds in a quiet courtyard where heavy metal doors provide stark entrances to the apartments above. A couple of women wearing heavy dark coats and knitted hats sit chatting on benches on either side of one of the doors.

Sandwiched between the housing blocks we come across a small play area with a brightly coloured metal climbing frame and a small slide. A green chainlink fence encloses a court where kids play ball games.

Government Commissioned Works

Along a main street in the Soviet-era neighbourhood, rusted panels embossed with wheat sheafs line enclosed balconies. There are several patriotic works commissioned by the local government. One celebrates border guards with the words “Border guards defend the country.”

Another, painted in 2020, depicts masked medical workers. It celebrates the Doctors who saved people during the COVID epidemic with the words “We are together. A thousand thanks to Doctors.”

Opposite a military barracks surrounded by chain link fencing and reels of razor wire a new government-commissioned mural celebrates Kazakhstan’s armed forces. Dmitriy tells us that there’s a year mandatory conscription in Kazakhstan.

Time marches on

The three-hour tour is going way overtime, but Dmitriy is happy to continue. It’s good practice for him he says. For a quick break, he takes us to a coffee shop that wouldn’t be out of place in any European or Australian city. The coffee is good.

Later we see two narrow vertical works dedicated to all women, sisters, mothers and grandmothers, thanking them for contributing to everyday life and raising children. The pale blue one depicts a Babushka wearing a traditional headdress purposely made tall and heavy, symbolising the weight she carries. The yellow one is of a young girl wearing the traditional headdress that brides wear on their wedding day.

Soviet Mosaics

For a change from painted murals, Dmitriy shows us two of the remaining five or six Soviet mosaics in Astana. Created from small glass pieces, they are on a building that was once housed a printing factory. Apparently, when the daughter of the artist visited Astana from the USA, to find her father’s work, she found the building, but the works were covered in advertising.

She restored the work, at her own expense, and the building is now a cultural heritage site.

The Street Art tour in Astana is a Highlight

By leading us over 4km through places most foreigners never see, Dmitriy provides us with an insight into the daily lives of everyday Kazakh people. Perhaps we could have ventured here independently, but we wouldn’t have had the rich experience Dmitriy gave us. And we probably wouldn’t find our way home.

This well planned and carefully curated tour was a highlight of our time in Kazakhstan. You can contact Dmitriy on his Instagram handle @astana_streetart

Note: If you’re ever in Amman, Jordan, you could do worse than do this street art tour.