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Mila Askarova

Mila Askarova was born and raised in Azerbaijan before settling in London in 2002. She graduated from the London School of Economics and Political Science, where she studied International Relations BSc. Having worked in the Client Development department at Sotheby’s, Mila pursued her further studies at Central Saint Martins and Christie’s Education, gaining a theoretical insight into Collecting Contemporary Art, Independent Curating, and Art Business. In 2010, Mila founded Gazelli Art House in London as an additional space to its Baku gallery, founded in 2003. After hosting conceptually interlinked off-site exhibitions across London, she opened the gallery’s permanent space on Dover Street. Gazelli Art House grew to support a wide range of international artists. In 2017, the redesigned gallery space in Baku reopened with an ambitious annual program showcasing both local and international artists, including El Anatsui, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Franz Ackermann, and Richard Wilson. Representing artists like Aziz+Cucher, Derek Boshier, Stanley Casselman, Francesco Jodice, Recycle Group, and Kalliopi Lemos, amongst others, the gallery has built a consistent and diverse program with artists working in sculpture, photography, painting, video, performance, and virtual reality. In 2015, the gallery launched its Digital Art House www.gazell.io, an online residency for artists working in the digital and virtual reality realm. It curated shows titled Enter Through the Headset, held to feature select previous residents annually in the gallery’s physical space. In 2012, the gallery launched the Window Project utilizing the gallery’s frontage as an additional display platform. Since 2015, the initiative has been remodeled to solely accommodate art school graduates through open call competitions three times a year. The most recent partnerships include the Royal College of Art and Central Saint Martins. As part of the gallery’s ongoing commitment to art education, the gallery publishes catalogues and artists’ books and hosts a program of Tuesday Talks to address topics raised through the exhibitions and encourage a deeper dialogue around them.