Shameen Arshad
Syed Faraz Ali
The artist describes his Art as “political pop art”. He also goes on to say that his own life or existence has become a basis for different interrogations. Faraz Ali initially received his education in Pakistan and then moved to Austraila for his masters which greatly influenced his work. Perhaps, like myself the artist needed to understand his place in a foreign society or understand what it felt like to belong to two different places in the world resulting in the transitory image of the self. I am greatly interested in how he presents a two- nation hybrid identity when talking about the relationship between Afghanistan and Austraila. The artist talks about the historical significance of the migration of many Afghans to the Australian continent and how they contributed to the progress of a foreign country.
Faraz Ali’s work is interesting to look at when talking about mutable identities and the changing idea of “home”. Australia is now home to one of the biggest formerly Afghani communities. I don’t know if my use of the word “formerly” is appropriate though as I often wonder what these individuals identify as today.
The artist talks about the practice of camels being brought in from Afghanistan (that which is current day Karachi, Pakistan) to Australia. The caretakers of these animals contributed to the development of the region in various ways, one of them being guides. I like the irony behind the idea of migrants that are considered as “outsiders” seem to take up on roles which are thought to be for natives.
I have time and again come back to looking at his work to understand how to blend seemingly different imagery together to create a visual that can be read as one cohesive piece.
Hossein Ahmadi Nasab
The vibrant colour palette of Hossein Ahmadi Nasab’s work intrigues me. Nasab’s work seems like a good reference when mulling over the idea of existing in an indeterminate yet a very “real” world. The work seems to illustrate real life characters, yet distant from reality ,a feeling promoted by the 2D quality of the imagery due to the lack of distinction in the treatment of the foreground and background.
His work is described to have “ The interpretable nature of (his) work (as) his main train.” I couldn’t agree more with this statement as the artwork raised several questions in my mind about the intention behind it. The work shoulders a dichotomy of ideas, first where the colour palette unites the characters with the background, suggesting a harmonious union of the two, and the second being the alienation of the different figures despite being in a crowd, suggested by the empty backdrop against which they are placed. The theatrical quality with which the figures are composed further promotes this synthetic ambience. It also gives the work a “collage” quality, a technique that has always interested me due to its ability to recontextualize found imagery.
Henry Moore
I recently came across the drawings of Henry Moore, particularly those that he was commissioned to produce during World War II. Previously, I had only become aware of the artist as a sculptor but there is something mystical and haunting about his drawings of people during the war using tube stations as bomb shelters. The most interesting part is that the technique that he used was a total fluke! I have been following the artist for his use of material on paper- his nervous scratchy lines capturing the anxiety and tragedy before him. The artist’s work is a beautiful example as to how figures can be reduced to basic lines and still not lose their identity. I found the artist’s idea to illustrate his characters as faceless amorphous shapes rather inspiring. The lack of physical features helps make the work more relatable, as it is cannot be pinned down to a specific time and place, assuming a universality appealing to viewers beyond those that are familiar with the particular events documented. This is particularly significant to my project as I plan to work on ideas and themes endemic to my home country and need to appeal to a wider audience that is similarly unacquainted with south Asian history and culture.
Amir H.Fallah
The artist describes his work as a “biographical” as he aims to describe certain personalities or the figures in his painting by surroundings them with images of different objects. All the material objects present within the image, loaded with memory and meaning, delineates the lives of his faceless subjects.
I feel the “facelessness” of the character, just like in Moore’s WW II drawings, is rather apt, as these individuals that are living examples of western and eastern cultural hybridity are usually not acknowledged as such and are immediately categorized based on their physical features. The artist tries to give a physicality to this other identity, a mixture of identities, that pretty much exist in the world, even if they cannot be pinned down to a specific place, race or nationality.
Looking at Fallah’s work made me realize why I wasn’t giving my subjects proper physical features and gave them a certain anonymity. The idea of not giving them faces comes from the feeling of not wanting to be categorized immediately as a certain race, colour or nationality, again loosing to reveal the complexity of their cultural breeding.
Zaina Al- Said
Zaina Al Said’s whimsical collages are a great reference when looking at cultural hybridity, even though her approach might be too direct. I came across an interview where she says that she finds it hard to describe herself in words but feels her work would better represent her character. Her collages are made up of a collection of images that belong to distinctive or different cultural and social settings assuming a similar universality as Moore’s drawings. It also promotes the idea of how her identity, like perhaps many, cannot be classified into a fixed category. The busy compositions reflect upon her upbringing and indeterminate sense of self due to exposure to different communities. Furthermore, I feel collage is something I would like to look into as the process is essentially the creation of a single image by deriving material from eclectic sources, recontextualizing imagery in the process. I feel this technique is similar to how I view the Pakistani identity- an amalgamation of opposing cultures, traditions and beliefs.
Zahra Nahzari
Nahzari reflects upon the nomadic state of mind - working through the idea of residing between two cultures using man made structures and the built environment.The artist blends architectural features endemic of Iran(arches, minarets etc) with new urban structures bringing together opposing cultural aesthetics, yet beautifully blending them together. The abstract images beautifully shows the amalgamation of the west and east making two particularly distinct blend together seamlessly.
The artist seems to have similar concerns as me. Even though the visuals are entirely of a different nature it still seems to be driven from the same desire to make sense of ideas about identity, immigration issues, and how globalization is changing our perceptions.The artist talks about travel being very important to her.Also, the idea of being open to assimilating aspects of foreign culture.
Salman Toor
Salman Toor's work is the perfect embodiment of the east and west. His work shows duality in concept and execution.
Do Ho Suh
Do Ho Suh creates immersive architectural installations that evoke his personal experiences, such as previously lived in homes. His work touches on ideas of belonging, memory, identity and migration. What attracted me to the work was his ability to construct the ephemeral quality of memories through the fragility of fabric. The sort of ghost like space separates it from reality yet the painstaking construction and attention to detail contributes to its validity.
Also, the idea of reconstructing a new space within an actual building makes me thing of the idea of “home” as being a more allegorical concept rather than concrete structures. It also makes me think about how the visual or the image of the house assumes a different meaning when seen out of it’s usual context. Through a part of my project I have tried to work on this idea. By including blueprint sketch of my house and a video of the sky from my roof top I am trying to reconstruct the environment in a completely different space.
