< PreviousLa bo u r of Lo ve Turkish ceramic artist Melis Buyruk speaks to Sharvari Alape about mastering sculpting, using art as a form of emotional relief, overcoming internal struggles and her most recent solo exhibition at Leila Heller Gallery Melis Buyruk. Habitat The Snake 2. 2019. Porcelain and 18k gold. 125x125cm or Turkish ceramic artist Melis Buyruk, being lonely is something she loves because, according to her, only in this state can art be created and built on. Sculpting ceramic to form a shape with visible artistry and underlying signifi cance is no easy feat. It requires time, dedication and patience. “As an artist that works with a material that requires high technical mastery, one really needs to be disciplined and dedicate a lot of time to one’s practice,” says Buyruk. “This means a lot of alone time.” With an unprecedented interest in ceramic art, Buyruk graduated from the Ceramic Department 80 HarpersBazaarArabia.com/culture/art Spring 2020 HBA_038_80-81_The Exhibition_Melis_11239815.indd 8011/03/2020 02:24:46 PMin the Faculty of Fine Arts at Selçuk University in 2007. “When I played with dolls as a child,” Buyruk explains, “I started to create things for them – I was sewing clothes, shoes and accessories, as well as attempting to build houses with things I found around. I even began painting the walls of our own house. Regardless of my age or the material I engaged with when creating art, I felt free.” Recounting her early encounters with art in childhood, Buyruk admits that although her interest in art began as a child and she always wanted to create with her hands, it wasn’t until later on that she found her passion for sculpting. “This enrapture with physicality led me to be more process-driven and turn to sculpture,” she recalls. “I fi rst began to use ceramic as a medium when I started going to university. I then dedicated myself to studying porcelain for four years and began what I like to think of as my second education as an assistant with a ceramic artist.” For Buyruk, art encourages creating and reconnecting with one’s imagination, which is a form of emotional relief. Her art delves on the complex relationship between humans and nature by playing on the forms commonly found across fl ora, fauna and body parts. This complexity is portrayed through porcelain with intricate details and defi ning features that demand utmost attention with the juxtaposition of porcelain’s notion of high value, decoration, and ornamental character with the fl eshy, organic qualities of nature. However, for all its mesmerising outcome, pursuing ceramic art is not without certain trials. “Because porcelain is an organic material that dries quickly, I also needed to be extremely organised in my working hours, and cannot be fl exible, which does affect my social life,” she confesses. Currently, Buyruk is exhibiting her fourth solo show entitled Habitat at Leila Heller Gallery in Dubai, which marks her fi rst exhibition in the broader MENA region. Habitat features nine por- celain works that present new hybrid and alien forms through integrating elements of the human body and animal body parts into fl oral arrange- ments enclosed in a lit-up box. “Creating a new world and a new topography is the inspiration behind Habitat,” she says. The eerily monochrome work attracts questioning eyes and pricks the audiences’ conscience. “I would want visitors to be reminded that they are in fact, a part of nature, and at this very moment, are evolving into new hybrid forms. I think we see ourselves as separate entities to the rest of the world, allowing us to be more destructive to the environment. I hope encountering my merging of forms helps to psychologically break this physical binary.” Buyruk’s fi rst solo exhibition, You are here (2015) in Turkey, followed by her subsequent shows, Never Enough (2016) and What’s Strange, Who’s Weird? (2019) successfully explored differ- ent levels of artistic creativity imbued with her ingenuity. However, one constant has been the porcelain material she engaged in everyday, thus, allowing her to understand its physical qualities and potential. “My fi rst solo show took place fi ve years ago when I was quite an egalitarian, and con- cerned with disparities between societies. But now I have broadened my focus to include all aspects of the natural world, from insect to fl ower,” Buyruk admits. Interestingly enough, Buyruk’s favourite art- work is not from any of her exhibitions. It’s her graduating project that she holds most dear to her, which came to be in the collection of Vehbi Koc Foundation, and is still exhibiting at the Koc Museum in Istanbul, launching her career. “I cre- ated an installation of dead sea creatures and gar- bage on the pollution in our seas – It was essentially my fi rst artwork as an artist and last work as a stu- dent. It’s a very cyclical work for me, and stands at the crux of the different stages of my artistic jour- ney,” she recollects with fondness. Growing up, Buyruk considerd herself fortu- nate to have not experienced any external obsta- cles, having met only encouraging people and forming authentic relationships. “For me, my obstacles are more internal, where sometimes I am my own roadblock,” she explains. “When things go wrong at the studio or during the sculpting process, I immediately fall into a void. I only can survive this feeling by working harder.” Buyruk often views the works of international artists to gain new perspectives and be driven to rethink her ways of creating. Inspired by the works of Jan Fabre, Buyruk considers his work to be in dialogue with her work. “I fi nd his sculptures really breathtaking when you see them in person. Only at a closer look, does one recognise the shells of the dead beetles, prompting us to re-question what is beauty and what is ugliness,” she explains. As a tenacious artist who sculpts small samples of each pattern and details before creating the larger work, Buyruk wants to be remembered for her reinterpretation of porcelain. “I would like to be known for my celebration of and dedication to intricate details that demand labour of love.” Habitat by Melis Buyruk is on view until 23 May at Leila Heller Gallery, Dubai Melis Buyruk. Infl ux Series. 2017. Porcelain. 90cm IMA GES C OUR TES Y OF THE AR TIS T Above: Melis Buyruk. Loveles. 2014. Porcelain; Below: Melis Buyruk. Habitat The Rat. 2019. Porcelain. 120x145cm 81 HarpersBazaarArabia.com/culture/art Spring 2020 The EXHIBITION HBA_038_80-81_The Exhibition_Melis_11239815.indd 8111/03/2020 02:24:51 PMClockwise from left: Ali Momeni and Robin Mandel, Smoke and Hot Air 2008; Mirza Kadym Irevani, Portrait of sitting woman, ‘Tempera’, 1870; Sara Rahbar, Take me home 2013; Courtesy of the artists and the gallery ast month, Baku-based non-profi t organisation dedicated to contem- porary art, YARAT, was home to recent and newly commissioned works by 16 renowned artists with the shared belief that no border is utterly durable. Entitled Fragile Frontiers, the group exhibition examined the dilemma of borders specifi cally within the Iranian context, recalling topics surrounding political identities and borders. The curators, Farah Piriye and Anna Fech, joined hands with Milan-based exhibition design- ers Md’A Agency, noting inspiration from The Caspian Sea, to create bespoke rooms dedicated to representing geopolitical, cultural, mental, social and physical borders. On the second fl oor there were no rooms or walls, indicative of a world without borders. Upon entrance was an installation entitled The Stride by artist Navid Nuur, leading visitors into “the mysterious realm of Fragile Frontiers,” as curators Piriye and Fech describe. “There, each work – whether it’s a real car resting on its side with its headlights on, or several islands of sand spread around the fl oor – explores the elements of travel unsuppressed by borders such as memory, water, air, or time.” Seven artists were specially commissioned to create new works for the exhibition, namely Navid Nuur, Timo Nasseri, Jaleh Nesari, Neda Raza- vipour, Samira Hodaei, Kamrooz Aram and Leila Pazooki. “The show aims to evoke a complex system of lines and boundaries within an Iranian context, bringing forth history’s transitory and mercurial nature,” say Piriye and Fech. “We wanted to create a body of work that plays with invisible forms of demarcation and their dissolution to a sensual sound- scape of alternating noise and silence. Some works have been selected for their strong sound qualities, whilst some muse silently about separations and border anxieties.” Also on view was a sound and video installation by Razavipour entitled Baku’s non-profit art organisation YARAT was recently home to a group show devoted to examining frontiers in all forms. Ayesha Shehmir discovers the cultural and political messages behind the featured works A Vision WITHOUT BORDERS 82 HarpersBazaarArabia.com/culture/art Spring 2020 IMA GES C OUR TES Y OF THE AR TIS T S AND Y A RA T HBA_038_82-83_The Exhibition_Baku_11199088.indd 8211/03/2020 02:26:00 PM The fl uid body (2019) which drew inspiration from the Aras River to investigate the notion of intimate memory. “Razavipour believes that this river has a lot to tell us,” say the curators. “She travelled to the border to document those stories, creating a research-based, multimedia work.” Also featured at the exhibition was a work by Iranian painter Leila Pazooki, which noted inspiration from the memory of space to depict the sounds of the industrial Bayil area, where YARAT is situated. Another work of note was It’s always night, or we wouldn’t need light (2019) by Berlin-born photographer-turned-sculptor Timo Nasseri. “The work traces the starry sky with small, black stone grains, when Galileo Galilei had to revoke his theory in front of the Holy Inquisition that the earth orbits the sun,” say the curators. “The work is very subtle and fragile, but we did not put any fence around it, so that people would walk over the work and the shapes of the work were slowly disappear. His work is also a good example how borders are a question of perspective.” Iranian artist Samira Hodaei’s Presence of Absence was another highlight, for which the artist collected gloves from Iranian and Azerbaijani oil work- ers. “The work not only revealed the invisible stories of these people, who made a signifi cant contribution to the country’s economic wealth, but also pointed out the complex strategy of cultural identifi cation versus a coher- ent and static understanding of a nation,” express Piriye and Fech. The entire concept of the exhibition was inspired by American-Iranian historian Firoozeh Kashani-Sabet’s essay entitled Fragile Frontiers: The Diminishing Domains of Qajar Iran, which explores the effect of border shifts on Iran. “She highlighted that modern borders, which may seem infallible due to international laws and treaties, in truth, remain ‘suscep- tible to change and transgression’,” explain Piriye and Fech. “Besides the physical frontiers, she mentioned the metaphorical ones that serve to address the cultural boundaries within societies, which are sometimes even more diffi cult to allocate, as they are more complex and sometimes even paradox.” Fragile Frontiers: Visions On Iran’s In/visible Borders was on view at YARAT Contemporary Art Centre, Baku, Azerbaijan from 22 November 2019 until 16 February 2020 Clockwise from top left: Kamruz Aram Elegy for blue architecture, 2019; Sara Rahbar, You are safe here with me, 2008; Navid Nuur; Samira Hodaei Presence of Absence 2020; Courtesy of the artists and the gallery 83 HarpersBazaarArabia.com/culture/art Spring 2020 The EXHIBITION HBA_038_82-83_The Exhibition_Baku_11199088.indd 8311/03/2020 02:26:10 PMSaudi Arabia’s AlUla region was recently home to an extraordinary exhibition paying homage to desert culture and the area’s remarkable cultural heritage, writes Ayesha Shehmir GEMS Kingdom IMA GES C OUR TES Y OF RESPECTIVE AR TIS T S HBA_038_84-85_The exhibition_Alula_11199727.indd 8410/03/2020 05:21:17 PMClockwise from below: Nadim Karam, On Parade. Mohammed Ahmed Ibrahim; Falling Stones Garden; Muhannad Shono, The Lost Path. Facing page: Sherin Guirguis, Kholkhal Aliaa O n view until 7 March 2020 in the extraordinary landscape of AlUla in Saudi Arabia, the site-responsive Desert X AlUla exhibition, the fi rst major contemporary art exhibition in the area, explored desert culture through cross-cultural dialogue between artists including Riyadh-based Muhannad Shono, Beirut-based Rayyane Tabet and Jeddah-based Rashed AlShashai, to name a few. The exhibition was co-curated by Raneem Farsi, Aya Alireza and Desert X’s Artistic Director, Neville Wakefi eld. The show marked a collaboration between Desert X and the Royal Commission of AlUla (RCU) and was held in an effort to promote the Kingdom’s art scene to an international audience. “Artists are at the centre of this exhibition, conceived to foster artistic exchange and dialogue across continents,” says Farsi. “The diversity of backgrounds, concepts and themes found in this exhibition affi rms the power of art in creating cultural exchange beyond geographic boundar- ies. Alongside international and regional artists, Desert X AlUla gives voice to Saudi Arabia’s dynamic artistic community, cultivating new audiences for contemporary art in the country. Many of the works on view are informed by the multiple layers of history shaping the region and through exhibitions like this, we are working towards a more inclu- sive future through art.” Featured at the exhibition were large-scale works including Lita Albu- querque’s star map NAJMA (She Placed One Thousand Suns On The Trans- parent Overlays Of Space), which depicts a female astronaut whose mission is to spread information and light. Also of note was Muhannad Shono’s The Lost Path, Rayyane Tabet’s Steel Rings from the series The Shortest Distance Between Two Points and Rashed AlShashai’s A Concise Passage. Other highlights included Falling Stones Garden by Emirati artist Mohammed Ahmed Ibrahim, which noted inspiration from the fl ora and fauna of the Arabian desert and Lebanese artist Nadim Karam’s On Parade, which depicts various forms which appear to have sprung out of the desert ground after rain. The works served to represent the fragility of the desert’s ecosystem. “The remarkable heritage and enduring traces of culture that have tra- versed AlUla for millennia are a reminder this ancient crossroads cradled refl ection, creativity and ingenuity,” says Nora AlDabal, RCU Arts and Culture Engagement Manager. “Desert X AlUla is a continuum of AlU- la’s legacy as an oasis for art. By putting the transformative power of art centre stage, we can foster new perspectives and opportunities for trans- formative conversations that build understanding between people. The exhibition captures the spirit of the Cultural Manifesto of AlUla, as we continue to preserve, enhance and interpret a constellation of natural and historic wonders.” AlUla is home to Saudi Arabia’s fi rst UNESCO world heritage site, Hegra, and dates back thousands of years. Spanning 22,561km², the picturesque ancient oasis features many archaeological marvels by the likes of Ancient Dadan, the capital of the Dadan and Lihyan Kingdoms, as well as thousands of ancient rock art sites, inscriptions and Hijaz Railway stations. The Desert X Alula exhibition was on show from 31 January until 7 March 2020 at Alula, Saudi Arabia 85 HarpersBazaarArabia.com/culture/art Spring 2020 The EXHIBITION HBA_038_84-85_The exhibition_Alula_11199727.indd 8510/03/2020 05:21:24 PMSet in a barely lit room, a solo exhibition by New York and Dubai-based artist Vikram Divecha reveals an evocative exploration of the human psyche, writes Ayesha Shehmir 86 HarpersBazaarArabia.com/culture/art Spring 2020 IMA GES C OUR TES Y OF THE AR TIS T AND GALLER Y IS ABELLE V AN DEN EYNDE The EXHIBITION HBA_038_86-87_The exhibition_Vikram Divecha_11199494.indd 8610/03/2020 05:22:18 PMn show until 14 March at Dubai-based Gal- lery Isabelle van den Eynde, Beirut-born art- ist Vikram Divecha’s solo exhibition Towards Opacity addresses themes of dark adaptation, failure, fugitivity, time, loss and darkness. Upon entrance visitors are greeted with a narrow corridor which leads to a photography darkroom immersive installation entitled Gallery 354 (2018), the central focus of the New York and Dubai-based artist’s exhibition. The room, barely lit, takes advantage of visual sensory deprivation and is home to a nar- ration in the artist’s voice. “My voice meditates on Gallery 354, the namesake hall in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which houses objects from Melanesia. I literally engage with light, retina and per- ception to bring to attention the very act of looking, the reception of image and culture and how the self is refl ected in these,” explains Divecha. “While the image fails, audio echoes a more deeper and per- sonal history and psyche – my interest here is in the politics of display and capture. Through this work the museum and the camera get intertwined and the birth of photography, anthropology and muse- ums are called into question. The darkroom and the photography process are not just mediums and material, but are employed as meta- phors in this installation.” The artist has introduced a brand new series of paintings at the exhibition entitled Lazy Loading (2019). “Lazy loading is a program- ming feature that defers the loading of information,” explains Dive- cha. “I’ve installed these paintings in a single vertical line, suggesting a bottomless scroll, a never-ending pit of information, which also mir- rors the vast repositories which institutions such as the Met have acquired over many decades of pursuit.” Noting inspiration from smartphones, the artist mixed pigments to colour-match the mono- chrome blocks on digital screens, referencing the hyper-effi ciency of technology in today’s age. “There is a lot to take away from this show,” says the artist. “I am interested in how the gradual adjusting of the hardware of one’s eyes exposes the space of the darkroom. This notion that the human was the fi rst camera and perception is so entwined with the act of looking is an important experience in the show.” Divecha’s artistic journey was fi rst established in the UAE when he began engaging with urban systems and operations. While navigating through various sectors including art, municipal operations, trading houses and quarrying, his interest for shaping projects using available material fl ourished. “Rather than expecting the public to participate in my works, I was keen on a reverse approach — that of participating in the public, putting my questions and aesthetic inquiries out there and following what develops,” he shares. The root inspirations for the artist’s works are simple observations and inconsequential encounters. “They could be subtle in nature but are loaded with socio-political context, such as encountering disar- ranged bricks on the street or in the case of the current exhibit, observ- ing a shift in lighting conditions while walking between museum halls,” explains Divecha. “Deconstructing these led me to areas of research, history, social engagement and a material-based practice. The drive behind these investigations is often to bring invisible structures into plain view, and raise questions about agency, ethics and value.” Towards Opacity by Vikram Divecha is on show at Gallery Isabelle van den Eynde, Dubai, until 14 March 2020 Facing page: Vikram Divecha. Gallery 354. 2018. Room view; Above: Vikram Divecha. A detail of The relationship between wood and sunlight. 2018. Scrap pieces from Columbia University woodshop, white marker, laminated plywood, metal frame, Ikea fl oor lamp. Variable dimensions 87 HarpersBazaarArabia.com/culture/art Spring 2020 HBA_038_86-87_The exhibition_Vikram Divecha_11199494.indd 8710/03/2020 05:22:25 PM88 HarpersBazaarArabia.com/art Spring 2020 Ishara Art Foundation and The NYUAD Art Gallery have joined hands with Indian contemporary artist Amar Kanwar in an effort to give South Asian minorities a voice he founders of Ishara Art Foundation and The NYUAD Art Gallery have col- laborated with renowned contemporary Indian fi lmmaker Amar Kanwar on two exhibitions spanning his com- pelling works. Featured at Dubai-based non-profi t institution Ishara Art Foundation is Such a Morn- ing (2017), a feature-length fi lm installation, while The NYUAD Art Gallery is home to The Sovereign Forest (2011), an ongoing multimedia installation that is a creative response to crime, politics, human rights and ecological crises. “There is an underlying and more important rationale that works on two levels,” says Maya Alli- son, Executive Director of The NYUAD Art Gal- lery. “First, because Amar Kanwar works at such a large scale, one rarely has the opportunity to see two major projects by him in such proximity. Sec- ond, that proximity allows a deeper sense of the forces at work in his practice.” The Sovereign Forest at The NYUAD Art Gallery highlights the notions of crime and evidence, while Such a Morning focuses on the resulting comprehension of loss and grief. Kanwar’s fi lms challenge numerous topogra- phies such as labour and indigenous rights, gender, religious fundamentalism and ecology. “When you live in such a situation where you cannot see all the parts of the violence, some of it becomes continu- ously invisible and the rest of the violence becomes normal, you come to terms with it, you accept it, you forget, you adjust, you live with it. This is a common reality in South Asia,” expresses Kanwar as he explains the meaning behind Such a Morning A CALL FOR CHANGE W ORD S B Y REEF A Y A NOOR T A J. PHO T O S B Y JONTY WILDE, HENRIK S TROMBERG, JENS ZIEHE C OUR TES Y OF THE AR TIS T AND MARIAN GOODMAN GALLER Y 88 HarpersBazaarArabia.com/culture/art Spring 2020 The Exhibition HBA_038_88-89_The exhibition_Amar Kanwar_11217573.indd 8811/03/2020 12:33:18 PM89 HarpersBazaarArabia.com/art Spring 2020 and what it means for those who are trying to escape such realities and mindsets. The artist also emphasises the diffi culty of trying to convey the silent desire for violence and the unshakeable prej- udice and bewildering selective indifferences. This latest fi lm installation brought him to step back in order to reconceive and reconfi gure alternative responses. The fi lm ultimately highlights hope even when darkness befalls someone and that dark- ness is not necessarily negative and keeps on chang- ing. Kanwar’s installation The Sovereign Forest, which is a long-term collaboration of the artist with media activist Sudhir Pattnaik and designer-cum- fi lmmaker Sherna Dastur, comprises two fi lms; The Scene of Crime and A Love Story. “I have been fi lming the resistance of local communities in the state of Orissa to the industrial interventions tak- ing place since 1999,” says Kanwar. “In 2010, I returned again to Orissa but time to fi lm, in par- ticular, the terrain of this devastating confl ict. Almost every image in this fi lm lies within specifi c territories that are proposed industrial sites and are in the process of being acquired by government and corporations in Orissa.” The second fi lm in The Sovereign Forest, A Love Story, “is a miniature narrative in four acts where time becomes fl uid as the image is distilled to its inner self,” explains the artist. “The fi lm lies at the fringe of the expanding Indian city, a world of con- tinuous migration and therefore of continuous separations. It is in this terrain of separation that A Love Story is located. Sequentially, cyclically and simultaneously, it becomes the companion, the prelude, and the postscript to The Scene of Crime.” The two solo projects shed light on the political situation circulating in particular states and give a voice to minority groups who are struggling on a daily basis in India and beyond. “Our hope is that this dual exhibition will set a trend of cross-Emir- ate collaborations, and allow our community to begin thinking in terms of potential larger syner- gies among our different institutions,” says Allison. “The two exhibitions serve as a call and response, and call again: loss and grief giving rise to expand- ing understanding of what questions and what answers are possible.” Such a Morning at Ishara Art Foundation in Alserkal Avenue, Dubai, is on view until 20 May 2020 The Sovereign Forest at The NYU Abu Dhabi Art Gallery in the capital is on view until 30 May 2020 Above: Installation view: Amar Kanwar: The Sovereign Forest, Documenta 13, Kassel, 2012; Facing page from top: Installation view: Amar Kanwar: The Sovereign Forest, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Courtesy of Amar Kanwar and Yorkshire Sculpture Park, West Bretton, England October 11, 2013- February 2, 2014; Installation view: Amar Kanwar: The Sovereign Forest, Thyssen- Bornemisza Art Contemporary, 2014; Courtesy of the artist and Ishara Art Foundation 89 HarpersBazaarArabia.com/culture/art Spring 2020 HBA_038_88-89_The exhibition_Amar Kanwar_11217573.indd 8911/03/2020 12:33:29 PMNext >