Assemblage
Assemblage
325 x 305 cm
Raw fabric Acrylic paint Permanent marker Charcoal Fabric glue
2024
Exhibited 27/4 – 4/5 2024 at Husby Konsthall in Stockholm
I started by twisting bandage-like stripes of raw fabric into bundles, painted them, secured them with rubber bands, and left them to soak in a dye of water and acrylic paint. An essential moment was unfolding the bundles of dyed bandages and discovering their folds and colors.
Afterward, I painted a background on two large pieces of raw fabric and pinned the bandages to the background, creating a patchwork. Then, I used fabric glue to fasten the bandages into an assemblage. In the final phase, I painted on the assemblage with acrylic paint, permanent marker, and charcoal.
During the creative process of Assemblage, I had no predefined outcome in mind, but I was increasingly consumed by the live-streamed genocide in Gaza, which I followed on social media. The uncertainty in the work process, I paralleled to the never ending flow of fragmented atrocities in Gaza. Palestinians document for their lives in English, making it harder for us to look away. Yet, we debate whether our observations are too voyeuristic.
During the creative process of Assemblage, I cultivated a way of seeing to actively avoid disillusionment. When painfully aware of the impossibility of “carrying” the whole, we organize collectively. Engaging in both a global macro level and in personal micro level brings together the picture, which can be seen as an assemblage in itself.
A genocide is a fact continuum. There will always be more to uncover when there is no clear beginning or end. In life as well as in art.
