Unfolding A Scene
Unfolding A Scene reveals and conceals the body within the space of conflict, as we negotiate its role within sites of the political to that of the existential. The body in relation to shifting contemporary contexts and the burdens of history mediates the body-self complex in very particular ways in each artists practice.
The 'body' is presented as site and symbol where re-articulation of concepts occur assuming a life of their own, often voicing the unvoiceable, saying more than the artist had planned to say. Over time, the works become more and more layered consisting of divergent languages and sensibilities to ensure a dialogue between subject and object; viewer and artworks. Around this other discourses are developed - fetishization and instrumentalisation of the human body, knowledge as well as art and representation serve as the loci for continuous excavation and discovery.
While the work of Mariam Ghani and Riyas Komu are specifically rooted in the relationship of the body and the contexts of what makes up the world, Mustafa Zaman allows us a way to peal away at those layers. So questions emerge through the juxtaposition of the existential being in Zaman's photographs alongside Komu's building of an archive and Ghani's negotiating of histories of conflict. All of it in relation to body, state and land as they unfold a scene.
Mariam Ghani has been exhibited internationally, including at dOCUMENTA (13), Sharjah Biennials 9 and 10, the 2005 Liverpool Biennial, Museum of Modern Art New York, Tate Modern London, and the National Gallery in Washington, DC. Riyas Komu is the co-founder and Director of Programs for the Kochi Muzuris Biennale. Komu has been exhibited at the 52nd Venice Biennale, 2007 curated by Robert Storr, the Jogja Biennale, Indonesia; Paris-Delhi-Bombay, Centre Pompidou, Paris; Crossroads India Escalate, Prague Biennale5. Mustafa Zaman's solo project featuring works from the Honey Series was a part of the Dhaka Art Summit 2016. Mustafa was awarded an Honorable Diploma from Small Form Graphics, Poland, Lodz, in 1993.
