previous image | Contemporary Art and Identity | next image
Sylvat Aziz
Maqamaat: Carousel, 1999
Oil, pigment,
dye on cotton ductDiptych 84" x 136"
These paintings refer to issues of space in an Islamic context; political and domestic, public and private. As well, they examine strategies of dominance and control of these spaces and interpret the games of existence between the male and female domains where relative strengths, though clearly ascribed, continually shift. Technically and materially the paintings are within the Western European tradition but the pictorial and ornamental references, particularly the symbolic imagery, are often of Muslim Arabic classicism. The inclusion of original photographic material results in a layered field of information meant to explore what is, and isn't, without expressing a judgment.
The images are coupled and superimposed; compared with the stuff of myth, religious allegory and folk story and meant to provoke a flow of information driven by an eccentric time machine. This in turn reflects a venerable culture's sense of ease regarding time; a culture so often changed through political maneuvering, religious upheaval, economic crises and military exigencies that the idea of a socio-cultural continuum can be based only on accommodation, flexibility and, finally, absorption. As on a carousel, outward perspectives change but are experienced slower from the hub; the perception of these changes depend on the rider's position.
| Sylvat Aziz holds Masters degrees in literature and in art. Her studies began in Lahore, Pakistan then on to Pratt Institute, New York, and Concordia University, Montreal. She has exhibited sculpture and painting at Venice; Istanbul; Bradford, England; New Delhi and Lahore, as well as many major public and university galleries in Canada. Her research is focused on problems of representation and the politics of space in early Islamic art and architecture and the influences, conflicts and compromises addressed therein. She currently teaches at Queen's University, Department of Art, Kingston, Ontario. |
previous image | Contemporary Art and Identity | next image