Said Atabekov began his artistic journey in 1993 as a member of "Kyzyl Tractor," the first avant-garde art group in southern Kazakhstan, founded in Shymkent after Perestroika. As an artist who witnessed successive waves of social and political changes, he explores in his works the intersections and local impacts of often diametrically opposed cultures and ideologies, skillfully revealing the paradoxes hidden within them.
Like many contemporary artists, Atabekov employs various techniques, ranging from video and photography to installations and performances. His use of ethnographic elements is inspired by memories of Russian avant-garde and post-Soviet reality, as well as a very sensitive analysis of his own status as an artist in the modern world. Recognizing the allure and exoticism of iconographic stereotypes about Central Asia, Atabekov often uses them in his works with a touch of irony.