Aziza Kadyri - Sender Unknown

Aziza Kadyri's Sender Unknown opens at the V&A South Kensington on 17 October, running through to 10 January. It's a new commission from the London-based Uzbek artist, and it takes its starting point from the V&A's own historic suzani collection.

If you're not familiar, suzani is one of Uzbekistan's most significant cultural traditions: intricately hand-embroidered textiles, traditionally made by women as part of a bride's dowry. Kadyri feeds traditional examples and her own experience into a bespoke AI model to develop a new language of suzani symbols, which female artisans in Nurota, Uzbekistan, then hand-embroidered. The work doesn't just reproduce historic designs; it generates contemporary motifs. Digital textile printing and 3D structures are layered in, and the installation asks whether generative AI—which risks erasing the labour, migration and intergenerational knowledge behind such crafts—can instead become a tool for preservation.

It's a collaborative piece. Kadyri worked with Yulduz Mukhiddinova on the suzani embroidery, Kacper Reicher on digital development, Fabrication Facility on the 3D structures and Canclini Tessile on the printed textiles. It was curated by Carrie Chan and Fuchsia Hart. The work forms part of the V&A's Jameel Programme, marking 20 years of The Jameel Gallery with Community Jameel, and it was first unveiled as part of London Design Festival 2026.

You'll find it in The Jameel Gallery, Room 42, in the Islamic Middle East section of the V&A South Kensington on Cromwell Road, SW7 2RL. It's open daily from 10.00 to 17.30, and entry is free.