Gulnaz was born in Ufa, Bashkortostan, in 1985. She studied photography at the Rodchenko School of Photography and Multimedia in Moscow. Her primary field of work is documentary filmmaking.
Gulnaz is a laureate of international competitions and festivals, including the New York Film Festival and the World Culture Film Festival in Los Angeles. She is currently based in Moscow.
Since 2017, Gulnaz has been working on photographic projects dedicated to the Bashkir people, their history, and culture. As a representative of the Bashkir people—whose lands were annexed by the Russian state between 1555 and 1557—she explores themes of cultural identity and the right to self-expression through her films and photographic works.
One of her notable photo projects focuses on Bashkir proverbs, presented alongside their equivalents in Russian and English. This series highlights the universality of human values across cultures. The project received an Honorable Mention at the International Photography Awards (IPA) in 2020 in the Fine Art category: “People, Traditions, Culture,” as well as nominations in the Fine Art and Conceptual categories at the Fine Art Photography Awards (FAPA) in 2019. and 2024.
Her portfolio includes exhibitions at the Kurpfalz Museum in Heidelberg, the International Biennale in Tashkent, the National Museum of the Republic of Bashkortostan, and the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow.
