Irina Bourmistrova was born in Russia and currently lives and works in UAE. She is the Curatorial Director of Andakulova Gallery, the most active contemporary art gallery that promotes arts from Central Asia. A Sotheby’s Institute of Art graduate, Bourmistrova worked at Christie’s and Sotheby's in London before moving to Singapore in 2010. Arriving in Asia at a time when Southeast Asian contemporary art was erupting onto the international scene, Bourmistrova developed an expertise of regional art first through her art-market reports on regional art fairs, and then, in the 2012, as a Director/ Curator of Partners and Mucciaccia gallery in pioneering project Gillman Barracks working with the region’s most experimental practitioners. Bourmistrova has curated and co-curated a wide range of exhibitions including From Picasso to the New Roman School, The Glass of Shadows, Sui Generi’s.

Since joining Andakulova Gallery as a Curatorial Director, she has been a dynamic force in the contemporary art scene in UAE. In her curatorial practice she focused on themes of identity and conceptual practices in contemporary art and artists from the Central Asia. She curated Gypsy Madonna, Pointers to Memory: Tales of Then and Now, The Mixed Threads and several other exhibitions. Bourmistrova also works on independent curatorial projects in UAE based art institutions, including Sharjah Museum of Art, Art Hub (Abu Dhabi), The Big Picture, N2N gallery, World Art Dubai, alongside ongoing projects in London and Tashkent. She has written for publications such as The Art Newspaper (Russia) and Artchronika, as well as exhibition catalogues.