"When the wild beckons" - Art of Endangered species and Wildlife by Animalier Rachel Gray

Rachel Gray is a British Artist who specializes in wildlife portraiture. Rachel has always been drawn to animals and art from a very young age. Her admiration and love of animals have led her to wildlife conservation, and she is committed to using her work to raise awareness of endangered species from around the globe. With this goal in mind, Rachel has worked with charities such as the WWF and has collaborated with the British High Commission, COP26 “Together for Our Planet” (2021), Namibian High Commission and Expo 2020 Dubai.

"I live for colour and animals, so combining them both is just brilliant!"

Wildlife calls Rachel Gray to her bosom from where births her magnificent portraits of the wild. She also paints pets. Her animals are lifelike and look ready to spring to life from her screen. Her digital rendition that mimics oil painting is full of life and Painter is a tool that gives her that provenance to capture the interesting, intriguing facets of animals and their environment. Rachel captures her own photographs and uses them as a reference. She has travelled extensively from the dunes of Namibia to the rainforests of Malaysia, she has slept under the stars and riverbeds. She feels that one must capture these animals in their own habitats to observe them at their best – to capture their true personality, soaking up the colours, details, behaviours and surroundings. Raising awareness about endangered species has always been one of the hallmarks of Rachel’s works.

Rachel Gray

Recently I had an appointment with Rachel at the Malaysian Pavillion where she was displaying her works during the sustainability week, particularly for this blog post. It was a short but inspiring conversation. With the backdrop of the wooden panels of the pavilion and the green around it was a perfect setting.

“I’m always thinking about art be it mine or someone else's.”

Focus - Rachel Gray

Rachel, however, doesn’t strive for photorealism. Her aim is to convey their character and the moments they share. She creates the images on the tablet/computer using Wacom, which is touch, tilt and weight-sensitive tablet, and a stylus that simulates the texture of oil brushes for her works and uses the software Corel Painter.

“Painter is the best software that bridges the gap between traditional art and digital art, making it more accessible for traditional artists to make the crossover into the world of digital art.”

She was the first British female artist to have a solo exhibition, ‘Instincts and Experiences’; a collection of digital wildlife portraits and abstract oil paintings, at the National Art Gallery, Kuala Lumpur coinciding with the 60^th anniversary of the gallery.

Rachel Gray - Wildlife Art

Below is the video of the conversation I had with the immensely talented Rachel Gray who in spite of her hectic schedule took out some time and spoke to me. Here, Rachel Gray speaks about “Below the Canopy,” her exhibition that was showcased at the Expo2020, Malaysian Pavillion during Sustainability Week. 

watch this video to hear what Rachel has to say about her practice and more

You can reach Rachel Gray at:

Website: www.rgportraits.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rachelgray.art/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rgportraits

Day 4 - NaPoWriMo - Debris of unaccounted tales

@SpaceLiminalBot

at the back of the ruins

lay the debris of unaccounted tales

of life spent in serious discussions

and mirthful wines

the sunken eyes betray 

a world of never-haves

.......rest of the poem has been removed to facilitate for future submission. Thank you for visiting.

"Poetry often takes us to strange places – to feelings and actions that are hard to express except through the medium of a poem. To the “liminal,” in other words – a place or sensation that exists at or on both sides of a boundary or threshold, neither one thing or the other, but something betwixt and between."

The image is just the starting point. Day 4 was to be inspired by a photograph of SpaceLiminalBot and they do have an amazing collection of odd-eerie images. It was difficult to choose one from the many I saw there. And finally rested on this one.

ps: do check out my works on Instagram.

PS : Poem posted as part of the 30 day poetry challenge for the month of April NaPoWriMo2021 You can click on the Napowrimo tag to look at my earlier posts.

"Vetera Novis Augere" - Latif al-Ani - Father of Iraqi Photography

The talk was just beginning after the salutations as I entered into a full house at the Folio – Majlis Talks at Alserkal on a cold evening last December. The seating itself was quite informal and audience-friendly, making us shed our inhibitions (if any!). I took an empty seat behind in between two seated, made myself comfortable and slid into the conversation. For the convenience of the audience who didn’t understand Arabic (it’s a shame that I don’t know the language and I really long to understand it), there was a translator as well. The conversation was directed by Beirut-based Iraqi photographer, Tamara Abdul Hadi and was translated by Iraqi writer and researcher Maryam Wissam Al Dabbagh. The 87-year old Latif al-Ani had the smile and gesture of an innocent child, particularly with his mischievous laugh. I loved listening to the familiar string of sounds and cherished what they said even though I couldn’t discern the complete meaning of it. I patiently waited for the English translation each time.

“I was documenting for the sake of archiving. I never thought Iraq would arrive at what it has today.”

Latif al-Ani

Latif al-Ani is an Iraqi photographer par excellence, also known as “the Father of Iraqi Photography.” I actually went in there without knowing the magnificence of this humungous personality only to be delightfully enlightened. Born in 1932 in Karbala, he has witnessed the glory and the fall of Iraq, alike. His photographs are both ancient and modern in nature with the changing times. What started as an assignment in the Iraqi Petroleum Company he worked for took him to new heights. His job was to document the modernization and industrialization of Iraq during the socio-economic boom of the time. His love to capture moments that he found beautiful and uncanny at the same time took him on a journey across the region by foot, by car and even by plane. Al-Ani was the first photographer who took the aerial shots of Baghdad. His experimental nature along with the right opportunities at the right time gave him the impetus to produce excellent works. His intention was to capture those moments for the future generations not knowing the plight of what was to come. His extensive and invaluable archives of the radically shifting socio-political and economic climate and the cultural landscape have scaled to history photographs for they are documents of an era that the country has long lost amid revolutions, coups and wars. He remembers his camera weighing 16 kgs with only 12 films to capture and what with the kind of technology that everyone is a photographer these days and al-Ani chuckled.

“I wanted to ensure each image was beautiful, in addition to being beautiful. I was always preoccupied with beauty.”

Al Ani was gifted a camera at the age of 13 or 14 by his brother if I remember right. Probably, that was the turning point in his life. Black and white photographs are what he prefers and his unique gaze documents the late 50s until the 70s with utmost flair. He shows women at work, girls in gym classes, mechanical engineering students, high-speed urbanization, modern architecture, tall office towers, and even Western tourists strolling through archaeological remnants. It’s a social documentary, one replete with information and education. Architecture, landscape, portraiture, cosmopolitanism, daily life are all seamlessly presented in his oeuvre. Until the restrictions were imposed, photography was a mode of life that was curbed with the turbulent times. He lost a good number of archives as the aftermath of the war, he mentioned. 

“I was repulsed by the fact that holding a camera became a dangerous act, and I didn’t want to be a photographer anymore. I left Iraq briefly, but came back because it is my home.”

The Talks were part of Latif Al Ani’s solo exhibition Vetera Novis Augere - ‘augment the old with the new’ that happened at Gallery Isabelle van den Eynde at Alserkal Avenue, in collaboration with the Arab Image Foundation, Beirut. The exhibition was from 18 Nov to 28 Dec 2019.

That day I got back home with different images of Iraq that we have never seen anytime recently; happy beaming faces of men, women and children alike, robust and well-managed cities, well-clad, urban-fashion women, confident and formidable young girls and much more. Even I could feel the sense of loss of a wonderful heritage and what the place has become now. It’s a terrible plight to lose everything to war. It just slaps on the face of how transitory everything can be. In 1979, al-Ani stopped capturing images when photographing in public was prohibited during the Iran-Iraq war. Later in 2003, most of his works were destroyed by the U.S led invasion of Iraq. What remains of his photographs thus become quasi-miraculous, salvaging an era from oblivion.

“I think viewers are surprised or shocked when they see them in contrast to what they see of Iraq today. I hope that they make people think and feel the pain we feel, and get inspired to help Iraq have another “golden age”. I’m happy that my work has had the interest it has had, this late in my life.”

P.S: This happened in December last year and am sorry for such a delay but I wanted to share the experience and let my readers know about this legendary personality.

Hope you liked this post. Do leave your comments and feedback, also do like, share and subscribe. Thanks.

Courtesy: Gallery Isabelle Van Den Eynde, National – Arts and Culture, Art Forum, Studio International

Where Art Happens - Thought is also a Matter - Kochi Muziris Biennale 2018

I chanced upon Vaishali Oak and Raju Sutar at one of the exhibition Openings in Gallery 27, Mattancherry two years ago. Vaishali and I connected instantly, and from then on we have met on and off at a couple of exhibitions. Raju had curated a show “Roots/Routes” during Kochi Muziris Biennale 2016. It was one of the best shows and it was part of the Collateral project as well. This year Raju Sutar is back again in Jew Town with “Thought is also a Matter” as part of the Collateral project organized by artexperiments.com. The artists include Vaishali Oak, Sandip Sonawane, Rajesh Kulkarni, Hrishikesh Pawar and Raju Sutar himself.

“How does it (thought) work on our minds and on different levels, conceptual or otherwise; or does the thought go beyond? I think it is important to question/challenge the very idea and go deeper instead of adopting it as it comes to you.” – Raju Sutar (from the Concept Note)

Enormous canvas paintings, huge fabric assemblages, colourful canvas on wooden mounts in basic shapes, languidly floating terracotta ‘matters’ in steel wires and culturally-transmuted performative pieces are not what you expect when you hear the title “Thought is also a matter.” Time and thought go hand in hand. Not a moment passes without a thought as we, humans, as are so cluttered with thoughts. While the sages had enlightened thoughts, we normal mortals have chaotic ones. It’s an exploration into this day-to-day seemingly mundane and unconscious process which is made exciting, colourful, humungous, surreal, performative and gestural in “Thought is also a matter.” Each artist reflects on the effect of thought in their lives and brings out their exclusive perspective.

Vaishali Oak and Raju Sutar

Entire Existence is a Thought Except Now – Raju Sutar

Raju Sutar explores the concept of ‘NOW’ and what this ‘now’ can offer. It’s an interlude between past and future. What is now will become past in a moment and it shapes the future as well. So 'Now' is crucial. He has made seven enormous 12’x42’ canvas with ‘action paintings’ as Raju calls it as his focus was just on actions of the now and not on the movement. The movement would have needed more organized thought and he was just living the now, capturing the fleeting thought by thought. There is also an animation that captures the movement of his action paintings like scribbles that web out of a plain surface projected onto the wall.

“...by avoiding movement of thought I am trying to look at the possibility of mutation to happen in the moment of ‘now’. Is there a possibility of mutation to happen in NOW? Which may change the course of the future. Yes, that is the quest going on...” ~ Raju Sutar

Seed Post – Vaishali Oak

An age-old thought revisited. A seed has always been associated with life and propagation of life and ideas. To Vaishali thought is a seed that when sown at the appropriate time sprouts into a sapling, which when nourished and nurtured would grow into healthy 'beings' providing food, shade and shelter. All life processes begin from that seed and ends in the seed. Follow its journey and you can journey along into the depths of your being. Vaishali’s fabric assemblages are intensely colourful drawing our eye and prompting it to move from one end to the other and back again. You could see the layered fabrics, the tear, the threads, the peeping warp, the in-between muted tones and you see the evolution of her thought. She has a black seed installation hanging from the roof ready to burst to life. Vaishali has even devised a Seed Postcard embedded with seeds that are available at the counter which can then be sent to your loved ones who can sow these cards and there you go with a ‘life’ sprouting from within.

“There is a great significance in the evolution of civilization. We are the products of what has been sown yesterday and this process will go on. When we dream of a brighter future we have to sow seeds ‘now’. ...Just as the way seeds travel and propagate, our thoughts do travel and propagate in our minds.” ~ Vaishali Oak

Breaking it Down to the Basics – Sandip Sonawane

According to Sandip Sonawane, we break down a complex image into simple shapes in the initial process of drawing for a better rendition of the image, for a proper grasp of the proportion and details. Whether it’s a circle, a triangle, a square etc. they are but the joining of lines to form an object/shape. So any complex picture can be broken down into basic shapes and can be seen en-route formation. They are also the boundaries that project an exterior and an interior; the field within and without. At first glance from a distance one could see monotones of shapes – circles, squares and triangles – in red, yellow, black etc. but as you near you could easily discern the layers of paint beneath; a camouflage of thoughts in 6’x6’.

“The idea is to break down the thoughts in a similar way. The thoughts are complex in nature we try to break them down to make sense. Whether it makes sense or not.” ~Sandip Sonawane

A Thought about a ‘Thought’ – Rajesh Kulkarni

Rajesh Kulkarni’s take on ‘thought’ is much more dreamlike and esoteric. Thoughts are like particles that hang around and once it steps into the past it immediately transforms that energy into enigmatic, abstract and clustered forms. Rajesh’s “Thought” is 15’x45’x28’ where beautifully sculpted terracotta forms float indolently in space through thin steel wires at the slightest breeze. One can even walk around it absorbing the sight of those gleaming earthy forms as the sun hits the roof, seeps through the pores of the warehouse and falls on its ‘raw skin’.

“When I thought about a ‘thought’ I thought that the thought that travels with speed, that has fickleness of present and at the same time, there is a sense of strong flowing reality. Present that annihilates the moment it creates itself. There is a grasp of multi-faceted analysis of the moment and amalgamation of mixed illusions co-existing.” ~ Rajesh Kulkarni

ITIAN – I/Travel/I/Arrive/Not – Hrishikesh Pawar

Hrishikesh Pawar's pertinent question here is where do thoughts originate and where does it end? It plays with time and space; a space with characters performing postures and gestures that have been imbibed, altered and metamorphosed not from any single individual or the performers themselves but from a “library of personalities” or “a pile of flesh, living a metaphor of turmoil and conflict of the surroundings affecting the present “Thought.” “ This performance is the melting pot; a layered deconstruction of various traditional dance/performative forms from Maharashtra and Kerala. With the help of 4 assistant choreographers, 25 dancers, they are to perform 48 shows by the end of the Biennale. The performance dates can be sought after at the exhibition venue. I am yet to see the performance albeit I did see their video in the gallery.

“A weaving of story-telling between the performer and the audience with abstract rhythmic poetry of sounds, gestures and forms. The performance is a first draft of re-imagining the physical aesthetic of the body and its thought which creates matter.” ~ Hrishikesh Pawar

photo courtesy -KMB

“Thought is also a Matter” is on view at VII/35, Jew Town Road, Kappalandimukku until Mar 29, 2019.

Where Art Happens - Enunciation of an Enigma - Juul Kraijer - Kochi Muziris Biennale 2018

One of the artists’ whose works I could relate to most at many levels is perhaps Juul Kraijer, the dynamic Dutch artist. Her works are mystical and quite uncanny and it’s hard to explain its effect on us; they have this haunting mystery about it. Juul Kraijer started with drawings, progressed into sculptures and extended into photography and even short films. The instant I stepped in and laid my eyes on her works I felt connected. They are pretty intense and amazing as they reflect the emotional perceptions of self (whoever is looking at it and most pertaining to women, I feel). I probably felt this deep connection more so because I myself am often exploring the inner realms and the emotional-spiritual space than the external one. That doesn’t mean I am doing the same kind of work but it is women’s psyche that I am pretty interested in. That said the inner self is not exempt from the outer one and is always a twisted-reflection of the exterior (not generalising, this is often subjective). It is those very actions that take it to the inner-most suggestions and experiences all through our explorations.

Juul Kraijer

“The eloquence of my drawings I can't match with words. In spite of this, I'm asked so regularly and with such persistence to give a specific explanation, that I don't want to refuse out rightly doing so...Personally, I shrink back from interpreting my work, considering the fact that the meaning of a drawing is always ambiguous. If it were unambiguous, I would have chosen a more direct form than the poetic-associative one of visual art.” ~ Juul Kraijer

Photo-Archival pigment print on Hahnemuehle Museum Etching -38.6x50.7cm-2014-15

The awkward-contorted poses, the bleak-eerie look, the suggestions of duality, the connection of man and nature at the very core, the unusual juxtaposition of animals and self probably mentioning the basic animal instinct that man is supposed to possess, minimal and yet a taste of the elaborate is all served in one plate. Even when we try to understand others, we often fail to understand self. But then these days trying to understand others is not much in vogue; we often close doors at the slightest of misgivings. Only when we realize who we truly are will others stand a chance, I suppose. As it’s said: “How can you love others when you don’t love yourself?” It stands true for any other sentiment too.

“I seem to be the type of artist who recognizes a small field as his or her domain, to be explored in depth and detail. In the drawings made during those twelve years, the main principles remain the same. Changes do not occur in the form of an abrupt break; instead, they appear as gradual shifts, leaving the core intact, like landscapes at the turn of the season.” ~ Juul Kraijer

Charcoal on paper/pastel on paper - 2013/2014

Juul’s drawings are in charcoal – sometimes with wiping and rubbing that traces the earlier patterns, her earlier drawings are less linear and her isolated forms loom out of emptiness or the black undefined background. Time, space and context remain absent in this landscape of the mind that just stretches far and wide, there is conciseness, lightness and brevity, female body borders on androgynous without explicit details like eyebrows, breasts and pubic hair, expressions are unmoved and reticent; a posture adopted for eternity, her forms are completely self-absorbed as if in a profound sleep or death, bodies are neutral and they mark the domain of the spirit rather than some reality and all that is there is ambiguous. Impermanence is the perpetual cohort or rather a confidante in Juul’s works. Some works also feature swarms and flocks that contours the human forms, and some have the twin form – the play of duality. Japanese, Indian and classical influences and that of Balthus as she herself mentions can be traced in her works.

“I frequently have the feeling that I am no more than a conduit.” ~ Juul Kraijer

Photograph-Archival pigment print on Hahnemuehle Museum Etching-2014-15 edition

The eeriest, however, is her works with creatures. The medusa-like figures, the bugs, scorpion, snakes, owl and chameleon crawling, slithering or standing over, the face with tiny faces on it. The woman with her half-snake hidden face teases our senses. It could be facing our inner fears while baring ourselves to the world for them to see and yet stay aloof, impenetrable. There is a kind of violation in her images that is always endured and accepted. It most certainly raises the question of “Why such disconcerting endurance?” The inner turmoil while maintaining an external inertness is all too evident. The presence of these sinuous creatures seems to accessorise and become an inseparable and inevitable part of the form also indicating the beast within us. Juul’s figures evade gaze as they are in their own realm, pre-occupied, in monotone surroundings mostly black and luminous white. Her mutating figures may speak a thousand tongues and yet be silent, oblivious to our visual investigation.

Sculpture in bronze - 2007-8 edition

“The world is miraculous without our filter of rationalism, but as soon as you try to express that in words, it immediately turns into mysticism.” ~ Juul Kraijer

In photography, Juul is inspired by Surrealist photography where she can employ alienation, mirroring, fusing of incongruent beings, objectifying body parts and/or casting an incredible snare of shadows. She is also inspired by *fin-de-siècle (end of the century especially nineteenth century) medical photography and Julia Margaret Cameron photography. For some photo shoots, Juul hired animal trainers to supply the reptiles, snakes and owls as they were specially trained to be draped on bodies and not be provoked by the human presence or of the glares of the photo shoots. Her photography like her drawings are concise and share the qualities mentioned earlier.

Photograph-43.6x34.5cm-2013edition

Juul’s figures are more of an abstraction or an apparition than an individual in flesh and bones. They are in a transitional zone somewhere between the transient and the timeless. It could probably be that searing desire to unite with the Universe which of course is unattainable unless one conquers the discord within.

*fin-de-siècle medical photography – In the second half of the nineteenth century the new media of photography and film gave way to a new understanding about mind – psychology and psychiatry. They became the mirrors of the unconscious, capturing the inner state of people who were troubled which paved way for an indulgent understanding of consciousness and sanity. 

An Update as received from Juul Kraijer on 14-01-2019:

Happy to announce to my readers that Juul Kraijer has won the 3rd place in the Lensculture Black and White Awards 2018 for this series:

In April there will be an exhibition with works by the winners and finalists at Aperture Gallery in N.Y.C.

This is my second post for "Where Art Happens - Kochi Muziris Biennale 2018 series". The first post can be read HERE.

You can send your feedback to mail.huesnshades@gmail.com

profile pic- www.fondationdfguerlain.com

Ref & Images: http://www.juulkraijer.com/
(I've edited the first and third pictures for the post.)
some info from Lensculture and cttheory.net

Alserkal Avenue Arts District - Part 3 (Final)

Alserkal Avenue, named after its founder is the brainchild of Abdelmonem Bin Eisa Alserkal, was established in 2007 is situated in the industrial neighborhood of Al Quoz spreads across a space of 500,000 square feet which houses not only numerous galleries of international repute but also project spaces, residencies, non-profit artists' studios, concept stores, event facilities and even cafes' and food outlets. It was expanded in 2015 to give it the look of today. Situated in Dubai's industrial quarters, this Avenue is a cluster of architect-designed warehouses that aims to foster the creative spirit by bringing together collaborators from diverse artistic disciplines, encouraging open dialogue, sharing of ideas and collaborations to bring those ideas to life.

Read: PART ONE and PART TWO

An architect turned artist, Mike Arnold, has used his old school skill of architectural drawings into a finer passion to create freer, looser and impressionistic works of the ever-changing urban cityscapes of UAE by playing with light and reflection. It most certainly reminded me of the Impressionists and their unending love of the transformative power of light and ‘the moment’. I was fascinated by his works which these photos haven’t done justice to.

“There is no overriding theme to his work other than a life-long passion dedicated to light. His attempt to chase and capture light is what marries all his work and within that search, Arnold attempts to convey emotion to his viewers.”

A grey eeriness definitely wafted in the air as I strolled through the unpolished floor of Carbon12. Umbra, ‘Shadows’ for Latin, immediately seized my whole attention. I could feel a sense of tension, abandonment, eeriness and desolation. In the vicinity of the scenes depicted. I could sense Hopper-like feel somewhere there. What made more interesting was the way the paintings were made. I have always been a lover of glass paintings and I have used this technique in my very old works. To have made use of the reverse glass painting on plexiglass this Portugese painter, Gil Heitor Cortesão, has made an awesome rendition. It makes a ghostly atmosphere where feelings are let loose and forlorn just as the things that inhabit the assigned space.

“Before: a ghostly shadow-world, where absence dwells in cavernous or cell-like spaces, rhythmed by the background hum of continual vertical lines. Behind: the viewing space, bounded by the gallery walls and floor. Or is it?”

(from the concept note)

If photography is a “message without a code” in the words of Roland Barthes, How does one read a photobook? Asks the concept while welcoming the viewers. The Photobook Show at the Gulf Photo Plus was the only we saw that was entirely dedicated to photography. They have works from the Middle East, North Africa, and Asia, showcasing a unique sampling of more than 40 photobooks from 13 different countries. In Martin Parr’s seminal work on the topic, The Photobook: A History Vol I, II, and III, he argues that in the form of a photobook, photography enables a kind of interpretation that is otherwise not possible from a single contextless image. While a gallery or museum wall offers a public display of photography, a photobook facilitates a private and even intimate reading of a photographer’s work and indeed, their world, even if the message may be elusive at times. 

The most striking was the ‘Visual Narratives’ of Aisha Jemila Daniels which is a series of self-portraits conceived with the aim to illustrate the conflicting internal states that negotiate for control within us. This was the show my daughter liked the best.

“...the combination of remarkable images and good design in a book that is beautiful to open and pleasurable to leaf through is an ideal way of conveying a photographer’s ideas and statements.”

(from the concept note)

The exhibition is on until 31 Aug.

‘Intersections’ in Mojo Gallery presents a visual dialogue of 8 African-Arabian artists who are exploring the role of contemporary art as a voice in two ever-changing cultural landscapes of identities, beliefs, perceptions and values. Huge and some full-length works adorned the gallery walls in myriad colours that told the tale of the modern times – of war, loss, the conflict both internal and external, the confusion and the crisis and even an attempt at the evolution of a new order.

La Galerie Nationale is not a typical gallery per say. I had the feeling of entering a designer home/apartment adorned with decorative pieces, eclectic furniture and then a coulourful array of fun, vibrant and buoyant-child-like paintings. When I say child-like, it’s by no means offensive...the strokes have the spirit and energy of, may I say, a flamboyant child. Only here, the child is the famous Moroccan writer, Tahar Ben Jelloun. It is a celebration of colours and life-force that one sees here. I am talking about ‘Cultural Crossroads’ the first solo show in the Middle East and is the recognition of a friendship between Ben Jelloun and Guillaume Cuiry, director and curator of the gallery.

“Beauty is first and foremost an emotion.” 

The exhibition is on until 15 Sep.

Rubbles and ruins were dispersed across the floor, some sketches along the walls and a looped video on the far end of Green Art Gallery, ‘Demolishing buildings, buying waste’; recorded and analyzed the demolition of a building in Tehran and incorporated the ‘traces’ of the process as video, sculpture and drawings. The artist, Nazgol Ansarinia’s interest is in Tehran’s changing architectural landscape and its relationship to collective consciousness. To me, these works spoke of the tale of every developing city/urban space in the world; paradoxical cycle of construction and deconstruction.

“Every part of this city is associated with memories from different stages in my life. I think that’s what makes this fast speed of construction so destructive in a way. It’s taking away our collective memory and individual memory with it. Neighbourhoods are changing so fast that they are unrecognizable. You feel lost when you can’t relate to a space.” 

(from “The Artist and their City”, The Guardian / Tate, 2016) 

Ref:Alserkal Avenue