In Studio with Aysha Nagieva; revisiting childhood.

In Studio With is an art-focused series which aims to spotlight emerging creatives, and today, New Wave had the pleasure to talk to Aysha Nagieva about her practice. 

Through her oil paintings, Aysha transports us into her world, filled with colourful dolls and playful visuals. She shares that she didn’t always think to be an artist, and only learned to paint while doing her BA in Guild’s London Art School. Originally from Azerbaijan, and having grown up in both Moscow (Russia) and London, her paintings are inspired by the Eastern European dolls that she possessed as a child. 

Aysha Nagieva in her studio, image by Emma Cormier Simola

‘I started off painting portraits, but I quickly grew bored of it and turned towards synthetic-looking objects like balloons, toys or flowers. The idea of the dolls came to me during lockdown, when I was going through my childhood photographs with my mother. There was this picture of me holding this toy that had been destroyed by my younger sister, so I decided to paint it.’

Aysha shares that after receiving much positive feedback from her doll portraits, she decided to continue depicting them, all the while adding her own twist. And that touch of originality is visible through the vivid colours she employs.

‘I just always liked colours. When you are an artist you sort of pick how you want to depict objects; some creatives prefer to play with light and darkness. But I feel lost when I’m not using colour. I also create my own shades, by mixing the different paint tints. But I suppose that it also comes from the fact that the dolls I grew up with were bright red, so I think it carried through to my art’.

‘Queen of Hearts’, oil on canvas, 50 x 50, 2025

Each of those paintings are also unique because of the emotional involvement they carry; each singular doll stands with the memory and the aura of how Aysha felt at the time of their creation. She shares that her biggest piece was for her University Degree Show, and it carries a lot of stress, but also excitement for her. She shared that she thought of each of them as ‘memory capsules like how a song reminds you of the time you listened to it’.

Although she makes no secret of her reserves towards working in 3D, Aysha’s art was part of a capsule wardrobe for the second Harry Lambert X Zara collection, for which she created elephant and bumblebee figures that were adapted into not only clothes but also giant sculptures and balloons. She shares that even though her practice is deeply rooted in the depiction of dolls, for this project she was asked to sketch toys associated with the theme of the circus, and so she turned to animals. While she is happy continuing her doll series, she tells us that she would not be against the idea of bringing her world further, by depicting not only the figures but also the environment from which her dolls come from. 

Aysha Nagieva in front of her 3D figure for the 2024 Harry Lambert X Zara collection.

Aysha also shares that she would like to work on bigger scale projects, although those require more logistic thinking, both in terms of studio organization and exhibition space. When reminiscing about her early days as an artist Asysha shares that the hardest part was to make peace with others' judgement, and to separate her worth from the way her pieces were received, either by critics or galleries. She also talks openly about the challenges of making a living as a creative while keeping agency over her practice and her inspiration.

Although her paintings draw from small dolls, Aysha makes her viewers dream big and revisit childhood toys with an inspiring new lens and playful spirit. Through art she proves that reminiscence doesn’t have to be an obstacle to development, and that we all need to wake up our inner child every once in a while.

‘Pub Light’, oil paint on canvas, 140 x 100 cm, 2023.