Tahmina Negmat (b. 1994, Bukhara, Uzbekistan) is a London-based painter of Tajik and Korean heritage whose transnational upbringing between Bukhara, Moscow, and the UK profoundly shapes her artistic practice. Drawing on her family’s complex history within the Soviet and Central Asian contexts, Negmat’s work explores themes of migration, dislocation, abandonment, and the collapse of ideological structures. Through her intricate and layered compositions, she engages with the psychological complexities of cultural identity, often examining the tension between familiarity and alienation by drawing on the concept of the Uncanny Valley. Negmat’s practice merges painting with ceramics, frequently incorporating materials such as Soviet-era felt, furs, and domestic textiles to create tactile works that evoke intimacy, memory, and ancestral labor. These materials, in turn, form a bridge between personal and collective histories, positioning her practice as a space for introspection, resistance, and collective healing. Drawing on elements of occultism, mysticism, and demonology, her expansive landscapes reflect the erosion of grand narratives and the uncertain nature of contemporary existence, while suggesting pathways for repair and reimagining the future.
Negmat is graduated with an MA in Painting from from the Royal College of Art (2018), London, UK and a BA in Painting from Wimbledon College of Art (2016), London, UK. Negmat is the recipient of the Ingram Collection Prize, Valerie Beston’s Artist’ Trust Award, Barry Thompson Memorial Award, Arts Council Grant and Artwork’s Archive’s Art Business Accelerator Grant. Since 2023, Negmat has served as an Associate Lecturer in Painting at the Royal College of Art and has been an artist-in-residence at ACME Studios.