Jamala Rahmanli was born and raised in Baku, on the Absheron Peninsula, where the desert light, sand, architecture, and carpets form a complex visual grammar. This perception of the world as a fabric woven from signs became the foundation of her artistic thinking.

She explored music, dance, and theater, but ultimately chose painting as the medium that most accurately conveys her inner state.

Jamalya graduated from the Azerbaijan State Academy of Fine Arts, where she began participating in international exhibitions. Simultaneously, she worked at the Museum of the History of Azerbaijan, focusing on the restoration of textiles and carpets. This experience laid the groundwork for her future research.

From 2013 to 2016, she founded and ran her own art studio in Baku, combining teaching and curatorial work.

The post-Soviet transformation, ethnic and religious shifts in the region, the experience of living at a historical crossroads, and the loss of previous identities are all reflected in her interest in questions of self-identification, memory, and the female voice in culture.

Since 2020, the artist has been living in Germany. The relocation marked a turning point in her practice: a return to traditional ornament and carpet symbolism, reinterpreted through dialogue with the European context and contemporary visual language.

Today, Jamalya seeks to integrate in her work everything that has shaped her as an artist: the tactile memories of childhood, the philosophy of ornament, the landscape of Absheron, and the experience of navigating between cultures — transforming these layers into a visual statement on transformation and the search for inner grounding.