- Incident Light exhibition at Blackwood Gallery
Incident Light: Gendered Artifacts and Traces Illuminated in the Archives is a collection of works from Middle Eastern and South Asian artists that aim to convey to the fore facts of gender and sexuality using photography of illuminated art pieces. Leila Pourtavaf and AzarMahmoudian present Iranian Art among other regional works from Tara Najd Ahmadi& Hannah Darabi, AlaDehghanMaryam Jafri, Jumana Manna, Nahed Mansour, The Otolith Group and Tejal Shah.
The use of incident light avails to a professional the capability to keep focus to the viewers’ attention to a subject through illumination while at the same time, capture any other details from reflected light from those pieces.
One of the pivotal works on display was Tejal Shah’s between the waves. The brightly colored and layered masterpiece holds true to its name. The juxtaposition of nature, sexuality and religion are represented in the ethereal mix of figures texture and color.
AlaDehghan’s 7 Holy Daysis another piece that make generous use of colour, beautiful and variety of material such as pencils, plastics and beads on the underlying textures together with the geometric shapes create an evocative contrast. This conjure aspects of disharmony and reinforce those of an unfolding revolution.
A Sketch of Manners (Alfred Roch's Last Masquerade) by Jumana Manna provides a looking glass into the history of Jerusalem. The dressing points to points of departure from the olden ideals held by the holy city as it embraces westernization. Issues of gender parity are also addressed from the cross-dressing of various persons in the picture after Manna’s revision. This conveys to the forefront the thought that history is an “interpretation rather than a representation of facts”
2. ADAD HANNAH exhibition at Koffler Gallery
Adad Hanna is a 45-year-old, Canadian based artist best known for his tableauxvivants. Hannah, through the use of models who pose for long durations in carefully constructed set-ups, aims to capture priceless moments using video-stills that are later reconstructed. This results in awesome art pieces bound to create many ah-momentsfor viewers who on realizing that the pieces are not actual pictures but rather videos.
Mona Filip, the curator at Koffler Gallery-Toronto, displays custom-made art pieces that shade more life into Hannah’s family history. The most engaging work in this collection is, Three generations (Kodiak Art Club, 1953), a reconstruction of a scene from an earlier family photograph taken in 1953. This photograph from Family Stills,an earlier photo collection, capturesHannah’s grandmother (Sally Gross) painting his 8-year old mother (Barbara Hannah). Hannah, through the use of models, reenacts the scene after constructing the 1953 scene from a military base Kodiak, Alaska where Hannah’s grandmother worked during her thirties. This recreation eternally links the family’s past with the present.
Three Generations not only captures the essence of family relation of Hannah, his mother and his grandmother; but also the relation between painting, print and photography.
Other pieces available for viewing include two other photos of the 1953 scene obtained from relatives. From the family achieves are 10 pictures thatexplore the family’s humble beginnings. One shows the family when it used to performance years in Europe from where Hannah developed a liking for reenactment. Another photo captures Barbara’s wedding. A video installation of interviews with a 90-year old Sally Gross bring a sort of serendipity to the fore. Video stills of the family story, in Sally’s voice complete the lovely spectacle.
Works Cited
Blackwood Gallery. Incident Light: Gendered Artifacts and Traces Illuminated in the Archives. 2014.
Koffler Gallery. Three generations (Kodiak Art Club, 1953). 2014
