State of the Art

The Saffronart Blog

Month: March 2013

Light from the Middle East: New Photography at the V&A (13 November 2012 – 7 April 2013)

March 6, 2013

Guest blogger Saranna Biel-Cohen shares highlights from Light from the Middle East: New Photography, at the V&A in London

London: This exhibition is a collaboration between the Victoria & Albert Museum and the British Museum and a result of a grant given by The Art Fund in 2009 enabling the museums to collect contemporary Middle Eastern photography. You can read more about the grant on the Art Fund’s website. This is the first major exhibition of contemporary photography from and about the Middle East, featuring 30 artists from 13 countries in the region and in the diaspora. The exhibition is divided into three sections, RECORDING, REFRAMING and RESISTING, referencing the intention and styles of the medium.

RECORDING : Photography can accurately document an event, people or place and can be commemorative or historic. The exhibition later calls into question the reliability of the image by juxtaposing historical snapshots to staged or manipulated images.

The exhibition opens with veteran Iranian photojournalist, Abbas’ black and white series Iran Diary, documenting events during the Iranian revolution.

Abbas, 'Rioters burn a portrait of the Shah as a sign of protest against his regime. Tehran,December 1978', from the series Iran Diary, 1978-9, courtesy V&A

Abbas, ‘Rioters burn a portrait of the Shah as a sign of protest against his regime. Tehran,
December 1978′, from the series Iran Diary, 1978-9, courtesy V&A

Mehraneh Atashi captures aspects of Iranian life not often seen outside the country (and sometimes even inside). She visited a zurkhana, an Iranian wrestling gym, a place usually forbidden to women. She includes her own image in the composition, framed by portraits of religious figures.

Mehraneh Atashi, 'Bodiless I', from the series Zourkhaneh Project (House of Strength), 2004, courtesy V&A

Mehraneh Atashi, ‘Bodiless I’, from the series Zourkhaneh Project (House of Strength), 2004, courtesy V&A

Abbas Kowsari, originally a photojournalist and better known as the Senior Photo Editor for the Tehran-based newspaper E’temad, photographs a peshmerga, a Kurdish combatant in northern Iraq. The soldier’s face is excluded from the shot, and the subject in the image seems to be the face printed on his t-shirt- Canadian rock singer Bryan Adams, a juxtoposition of warfare and western popular culture.

Abbas Kowsari, Halabche, 2003, courtesy V&A

REFRAMING: Artists also use photography to reference known images, reworking them to make a personal, social or political statement. Inspired by iconic fashion photography, Moroccan born photographer Hassan Hajjij explores western consumerism alongside traditional values. His frames are made of recycled materials, giving a sculptural element to his work.

Hassan Hajjaj, Saida in Green, 2000, courtesy V&A

Between 1989 and 2004, Lebanese born Walid Raad worked on a project titled The Atlas Group, a fictional archive documenting the Lebanese Civil War (1975-1990). The project includs text, video, installation and photography. This particular work from the series shows notebook pages from the fictional historian named Dr Fakhouri. This character kept a log of every car that was used as a car bomb during war. Read more about Walid Raad.

Walid Raad, Notebook Volume 38: Already Been in a Lake of Fire (Plates 63–64), 2003 courtesy V&A

RESISTING: Artists in this section demonstrate that photography can be manipulated, and truth in the medium is called into question. These artists also explore and expand the use of the medium through digital enhancement, processing techniques and modifications made to the print itself.

Iranian born Taraneh Hemani downloaded mug shots from a US government website just after 9/11. The printed faces are blurred and scratched so the individuals are no longer recognizable, a commentary on western stereotypes of Muslims.

Taraneh Hemami, Most Wanted, 2006, courtesy V&A

Egyptian photographer Nermine Hamman was taken by the events of Tahrir Square in Cairo, January 2011. The army was called in to respond to the protests, and she noticed the young soldiers and their vulnerability during this crisis. She imagined them anywhere but Cairo and superimposed them into vibrant, fantastical settings, recalling and rejecting the propaganda posters of young soldiers during World War II and communist propaganda images.

Hermine Hammam, ‘The Break’, from the series Upekkha, 2011, courtesy V&A

To learn more about the exhibition, click here. Also watch this video.

Guest contributor Saranna Biel-Cohen lives and works in London. She holds a Master’s Degree in History of Art from University College London with a focus on Modern Indian Art.

Jehangir Nicholson Art Foundation presents Abstraction show in Mumbai

March 5, 2013

Guest blogger, Hena Kapadia recommends an exhibition on Indian abstraction in Mumbai

"A view of the Jehangir Nicholson Gallery at the opening of Nothing is Absolute"

Ranjit Hoskote speaking at the Jehangir Nicholson Gallery at the opening of “Nothing is Absolute”

Mumbai: Earlier this week, the Jehangir Nicholson Art Foundation opened its third show entitled “Nothing is Absolute: A Journey through Abstraction.” The show has been thoughtfully curated by Ranjit Hoskote and Mehlli Gobhai at the foundation’s permanent gallery space at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sanghralaya (CSMVS). The artists whose works are on display include S.H. Raza, Laxman Shrestha, V.S. Gaitonde, Akbar Padamsee, Ram Kumar and Gobhai. The show pushes our conceptions of the boundaries of Indian abstraction by including works like 17th century Islamic tiles from the CSMVS permanent collection along with the selection of modern abstract works from the Foundation’s collection.The layered interpretation of Indian abstraction as well as the inclusion older works, usually unmentioned in this modern context, make this a show a must see.

This show underscored another interesting facet of recent art exhibitions: dual curation. The challenges and conversations that come with collaborative curation were discussed at the opening by Mr. Gobhai, an artist, and Mr. Hoskote, a poet, independent curator and critic, and both indicated that working together was more helpful in producing a well rounded and nuanced exhibition.

Read more about the exhibition.

Installation view of the Jehangir Nicholson Gallery

Installation view of the Jehangir Nicholson Gallery

Hena Kapadia is a Mumbai based art professional, who has a Master’s Degree in Modern and Contemporary Art World Practice.

Shilpa Gupta & Raqs Media Collective in Every Day Matters @ Faurschou Foundation Copenhagen

March 4, 2013

Tarika Agarwal of Saffronart contemplates what to expect from the upcoming exhibition ‘Every Day Matters’ at Faurschou Foundation in Copenhagen

Mumbai: ‘Every Day Matters @ Fairschou Foundation Copenhagen’ is a group exhibition of international contemporary artists. The exhibition will run for a period of three months starting from 14 March, 2013. If any of you are in Copenhagen during this time and have the opportunity to visit the show, I think it’s a definite must-see. I know I would.

The Faurschou Foundation is a privately funded art institution in Copenhagen that was established by Luise and Jens Faurschou. For 25 years now, they have presented exhibitions of internationally recognized artists both in Denmark and abroad. This exhibition represents artists from the Middle East, USA, Europe, South America and Asia. Among these are Shilpa Gupta and Raqs Media Collective.

Shilpa Gupta is a contemporary artist who lives and works in Mumbai. She studied sculpture at the Sir J. J. School of Fine Arts here, and is currently one the most respected contemporary women artists living and working in India today. She is an interdisciplinary artist who works with sound, video, photography and performance to capture, explore and understand themes like desire, religion and security (nations, militarism and identity).

Raqs Media Collective on the other hand is a group that was founded in the early 1990s by Jeebesh Bagchi, Monica Narula and Shuddhabrata Sengupta. They enjoy playing around with a plurality of roles often appear as artists, though sometimes also as curators and other times as philosophical agent provocateurs.

The title of the exhibition ‘Every Day Matters’ gives away a lot of what one can expect from this exhibition. It forms a framework for the artists to play with the idea of the fundamental condition that every day is important and that reality has forced its way into our lives and the artist’s lives as a necessity. In places with political unrest or socioeconomic turmoil and challenges that we face on a day to day basis, art is often influenced by these external factors. An artist’s individual needs and social commitments have a crucial influence on their works – through art they express themselves from the past and the present. I think it would be interesting to view the world from an artist’s perspective. Also, to see how their creativity and imagination works to create a masterpiece.

Since the works are not up for viewing on the Foundation’s website yet, I have picked a few interesting pieces by both the artists to give an idea of what you can expect from them while attending the exhibition.

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Strung in Gems

March 2, 2013

Amit Kapoor writes about a new collection of gemset necklaces featured on The Story.

New Delhi: The necklace is a piece of jewelry that has a long history of being worn by both men and women. Necklaces were often used as a way of making distinctions among various cultures.

Historians and archaeologists have discovered that the necklace originated maybe forty thousand years before it was originally believed. Archaeologists believe that the oldest known finding was from 30,000 B.C. It was made of stones, animal teeth, bones, claws and shells strung onto thread, similar to the concept of today’s necklaces.

Later, in 2500 B.C., necklaces began to be made from precious metals like gold. The ancient Egyptians made necklaces ranging in complexity from simple strings of beads to highly complicated patterns set with a variety of precious and semiprecious materials. They also had the broad collar and pectoral type of necklaces that both men and women wore, especially the wealthy and royalty. These necklaces were often richly ornamented and were an important part of Egyptian attire. Many of these necklaces were buried with their owner when they died and were excavated several centuries later providing critical information about this ancient civilization.

Gold was abundant in the ancient Greek Empire, particularly during the rule of Alexander the Great. The ancient Greeks used gold to fashion necklaces and many other types of jewelry for many centuries. During the first century A.D., the Roman style of jewelry, which used gemstones cut in circular or rectangular shapes, became popular.

Later on, it became a fashion for women to wear several necklaces at once. The greater this number, the higher the level of wealth or class it indicated. For a few years, the popularity of necklaces waned until the late 14th century, when they regained popularity.

Now, necklaces are popular among all cultures and peoples. Necklaces are worn for a variety of reasons. The most widespread of course is personal ornamentation. Another important reason people wear necklaces is for their religious significance. Necklaces with images of Saints or a simple cross are among the most widely used in this category.

Necklaces have been around for many, many years and will most likely remain so as they are a versatile type of jewel that can constantly be reinvented to stay trendy. They have been made from everything from animal bones and teeth to rare gemstones, from shells and beads to metals and resins.

Adorned, a collection currently featured on The Story includes an eclectic selection of necklaces set with unique gemstones like variously coloured quartz, agate, turquoise, labradorite, fluorite and ammonite in quirky designs.

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