Throwback
During the earlier months of 2017, we visited a total of three Exhibitions, two free and one where you would have to pay. Unfortunately I was unable to view the third.
However I did view the first and the second. The first was Dzhangal by Gideon Mendel at Autograph in Shoreditch and following that we went to the second exhibition Oblivion by Sheida Soleimani, situated at the Edel Assanti Gallery.
Though both of the exhibition were challenging, and albeit interesting, there was a beauty to the second exhibition. The presentation of which had influenced the way I presented my series. It was a confusing presentation at first, however this was soon cleared up after we were informed of the composition and the reason to as why it was presented as such. The Soleimani exhibit was a bit more controlled, having the statuettes placed accordingly with their own story does really put the viewer within a different sphere. Soleimani’s exhibition showcased the in-equality and cruelty and execution of women within Iran who unlawfully imprisoned. She undertook research in order to create the photographic works presented, she unearthed the backstory of these women, the power of the exhibition when the backstory is added was a spectacle. The work was a balance between physical prints and statuettes placed around a rectangular room.
Whereas the Mendel exhibition was of contrasting composition. What I personally saw was a controlled chaos, the Mendel exhibit was a representation of the impact of disaster, therefore what we saw was a visual recollection. The way of which both artists presented the work explores the conflict and the cruelty that goes on in the world today. The work that Mendel presented was a physical collection of torn and burnt and destroyed clothes, personal belonging and items he had found in a refugee camp, in Calais, where he, Mendel, had found that the refugees were aggressive towards the camera and therefore, he turned to using the discarded objects, or even the lost objects.
The exhibitions, in their own right try to help find equality, they try and aid the world. The work is a recollection, a presentation and representation of the cruelty, and the depravity. It highlights how this world, thought mostly free, still sees vile lockdown from an invisible hand.