She’s An Instagram Model (Kazakh Version)

I always believe art needs purpose. If art is made in a vacuum without a reason or powerful story behind it then it’s just a series of unconnected meaningless images. While living in Kazakhstan, I started making movies there after seeing a video on Instagram of an African man and a Kazakh girl getting married. My Russian and Kazakh was poor at the time but I tried to read the comments on the video to understand how people felt about foreigners and locals coming together through marriage in the country. After seeing the video, a few days later I saw a young black child in school uniform walking with his Kazakh friend through Almaty happily speaking Russian together. I realized how multicultural the world truly is and I wondered as I was falling in love with the country I would live in for two years throughout the pandemic, if I were to stay in Kazakhstan, how would I fit in to that world. As an outsider, would the people and the country have a place for me?

Throughout my travels around the world, I would often see how many foreigners would come to a country with no interest in the language or the people. They would live, work and take advantage of the opportunities afforded to them and then leave, never really understanding the language or culture, often times contributing little to nothing to the country other than to its economy. Another cog in the wheel. Living in countries like China, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkey, I wanted to become a part of the culture of the countries I lived in, not just to have the experience disappear from my memory as if waking up from a hazy dream. To do that you need to not only do something exceptional and memorable to engrave the experience in your own heart but you also need to find a way to earn the respect of the people you’re appealing to, in order to engrave that experience in their hearts as well, making a lasting place for yourself in society. So I decided to make 10 short comedy videos in Kazakhstan speaking kazakh and russian in them. 2 of those videos being Kazakh music video parodies. By trying to learn and spread the kazakh language through music, melding themes of Kazakh and American culture in my comedy videos, living in the country 2 years, learning about the culture and repping Kazakhstan in this series of artwork pieces to the rest of the world, I hope that I’ve been able to reach that goal of truly becoming a part of that culture and making a second home far away from the gritty streets of Brooklyn, New York where I was born. Being back in America these past few months, as I reflect on my time in Kazakhstan, I am truly proud of the artwork I was able to create there.

I remember when I lived in China, I met a young girl that told me I was the first foreign friend she had ever had because I was the first foreigner she knew that could speak Chinese. I never understood the impact of that until much later after making my first movie in China and Japan and winning my first film award when many people there told me I’d changed their attitudes towards their relationships and made them want to try harder for the things and people they love. Film has a way of moving hearts and changing minds. After moving to Kazakhstan I realized, the only understanding many people had of foreigners that look like me were through the images they would see on TV. But watching Kevin Hart do stand up on Netflix with Russian subtitles or seeing Jay Z in a rap video isn’t the same as seeing a regular American come to the country, bringing his or her own personal life experiences while learning from the people, what makes them laugh and cry. I wanted to be an example of a foreigner that people there could see speaking their own language, working alongside local cast and crew, and working to meld aspects of Kazakh and American culture together through film, music and comedy. There were no investors, no big names attached to the project. The project was completely self funded. All cast and crew were paid a good honest wage directly from my online English teaching salary and the U.S. pandemic stimulus payments I received giving me the chance to have a country half way around the world from my home back in New York share in my dream of showing Kazakhstan an example of a person who looks like me singing fluently in the Kazakh language. I am proud I was able to do something so important with this parody kazakh music video singing in the language of the country I fell in love with and lived in throughout the pandemic. The possibility of being the first foreigner to bring an award to Kazakhstan for a song produced in the country of Kazakhstan, working alongside Kazakh actor and actresses, to make this music video become a reality would mean all the world to me, to my cast and crew, and I hope to the people of Kazakhstan.