A Home With a View

Her Art in Action 2026: A Home with a View. Artists: Pari Abbasli, Ayten Abdullayeva, Umay Abdullayeva, Leyla Aghadiyeva, Leyla Aliyeva, Leyli Alakbarova, Zarif Bakirova, Dikarka, Rehab Eldalil, Kafiya Eyvazova, Leyla Gabulova, Adila Huseynova, Sitara Ibrahimbayli, Gözde Ilkin, Nazrin Mammadova, Saida Mirzayeva, Nilufar Musayeva, Sabina Mukhudinova, Yekaterina Obukhovskaya, Natavan Rahimova, Aidan Salakhova, Shalala Salamzadeh, Tati Sattar, Dora Sarikaya, Ines Sistiaga, Yana Xarasho, Maryam Yusifaliyeva. Exhibition: March 9–May 31, 2026 / Gazelli Art House, Baku, Azerbaijan. 

VarYox and Gazelli Art House Baku presents the group exhibition Her Art in Action. 2026: A Home with a View. Her Art in Action is a three-month women’s art festival taking place from March to May 2026 across multiple sites in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Initiated by VarYox Art and Culture Platform, Her Art in Action is an annual initiative dedicated to advancing gender balance in the arts, expanding cultural access, and strengthening Azerbaijan's international cultural presence through inclusive, high-quality programming.

Now in its third edition, Her Art in Action has emerged as a rare festival in the region dedicated exclusively to women's artistic production and transnational exchange.

The project actively connects women from Azerbaijan and the wider region, including Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkey, Georgia, Egypt, and the Balkans, Spain and Lithuania. By fostering collaboration across these geographies, the festival counters cultural isolation and cultivates a shared space shaped by collective histories, mobility, and contemporary urgencies.

A Home with a View, approaches home not as a fixed location, but as a shifting condition shaped by women's experiences and explores how women create, define, challenge, and reclaim space within the tension between public and private life, visibility and withdrawal, belonging and resistance.

Home is understood as a layered and contested concept, entangled with family, nostalgia, learning, longing, expectation, displacement, migration, ecological responsibility, and community care. Artists were invited to interpret home expansively: as a physical site, but also as ritual, relationship, memory, or body. The theme asks how home can emerge in unexpected places and alliances, transforming it into a site of self-definition, agency, and shared imagination.

Extended program
April 8–9: Senses
Collaborative exhibition by students of Art-Oriented Boarding School No. 11 (Bilgah), developed in dialogue with established contemporary artists 

May: Icherisheher (Old City)
Photography Night—a public outdoor program activating historical urban space through contemporary photography

Throughout the three-month program, Her Art in Action hosts public talks, workshops, and portfolio reviews led by local and international professionals, creating spaces for reflection, critique, mentorship, and exchange. These activities strengthen professional networks, expand access to art education, and foster dialogue across generations and borders.

The 2026 edition is curated by Sitara Ibrahimbayli, Mahinbanu Safikhanli, and Dr. Lesley Gray. The curatorial framework emphasizes collaboration and pedagogy, supporting emerging curators through hands-on participation and shared authorship. The festival also features guest curator Deniz Pehlivaner (Türkiye).

We extend our sincere gratitude to Pasha Holding, Azercell, the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Azerbaijan and the Embassy of the Kingdom of Spain in Azerbaijan for the invaluable support.

About VarYox
Founded in 2018 and based in Baku, VarYox Art Platform is an independent art initiative committed to supporting contemporary artistic practices and fostering meaningful cultural dialogue. Through exhibitions, collaborative projects, and interdisciplinary programs, the platform creates opportunities for both emerging and established artists to present impactful work to diverse audiences.

About the Gallery
Founded in 2010 by Mila Askarova, Gazelli Art House represents an international roster of artists, from leading figures in Post-War movements such as Pop Art and Abstract Expressionism to ultra-contemporary voices redefining art in the digital age.

The gallery champions artists who challenge convention through the creative exploration of a variety of media. Along with its sister site in Baku, the gallery also specialises in art from Azerbaijan and its neighbours, fostering cross-cultural dialogue. In 2015 we launched GAZELL.in, an online platform specifically supporting innovation in art and technologies.