< Previous140 HarpersBazaarArabia.com/Culture Winter 2020 Almaty-based Aspan Gallery presented its fi rst UK exhibition with a dual presentation of Almagul Menlibayeva and Yerbossyn Meldibekov , seeing a new generation of prominent artists assert the tumultuous and overlooked history of Central Asia Words by Iman Vakil CASE Almagul Menlibayeva, Butterfl y. 2010. Lambda print. Courtesy Priska C Juschka Fine Art HBI_048_140-143_La photographie_Almagul_11448445.indd 14029/11/2020 12:39:37 PM141 HarpersBazaarArabia.com/Culture Winter 2020 La PHOTOGRAPHIE IN POINT HBI_048_140-143_La photographie_Almagul_11448445.indd 14129/11/2020 12:41:11 PMCREDIT HERE The LATEST 142 HarpersBazaarArabia.com/Culture Winter 2020 142 HarpersBazaarArabia.com/Culture Winter 2020 Having been on view from 5 until 18 October 2020 to inaugurate art hub Cromwell Place in London, the exhibition It’s Easy to be a Line / It’s diffi cult to be a point took its namesake from the little-known, yet seminal Soviet avant-gardist Sergey Kalmykov. Resisting the eradication of individual culture in the totalitarian socialist realism, Sergey fervently produced a body of surrealistic and fantastical paintings instead. “He fought and won for us the right to be an artist, he never had freedom to travel out of the country,” explains artist Almagul Menlibayeva. “I am proud to be his ‘Easy Line’ and be a nomad around the world.” Often staging mythological narratives and confl ating the sacrality of the Steppes and female body in the Central Asian imaginary, violently poetic video works and photographs by Almagul were on view in an homage to Sergey. In the video work Exodus, female spirit-like fi gures trash their hair in the foreground of former Central Asian concentration camps, interspersed with a montage of indigenous peoples fl eeing their traditional yurt homes as an immobile young girl watches on. Blending performance with fi lm to create sublime scenes, in a manner reminiscent to Sergei Parajanov, the work is a reminder of the violent systems that underlie the free-spirited notion of a nomad. “I made this fi lm in territories that once belonged to numerous Kazakh families,” Almagul shares, pointing out that around 300 uprisings took place across Kazakhstan against Soviet colonisation. “The fi lm is built on a personal mythology, about a little girl nomad, while the adults are in a hurry to arrange their belongings, preparing for the transition to the distant future, she is hypnotised by a female Peri fairy, an ancient archetypes from Earth consciousness. The Peri wants to share that something is wrong. But the anxious adults do not notice them, they are in a different psychological time.” Similarly, in the video work Transoxiana Dreams, a little girl living in the disappearing Aral Sea - known to be one of the world’s worst Almagul Menlibayeva. Transoxiana Dreams. Video still Almagul Menlibayeva. Aisha Bibi. 2010. Duratrans print in lightbox. Edition 3 Almagul Menlibayeva. Centaur. 2011. Fine art Inkjet print on archival paper. 28x19cm WORDS BY IMAN V AKIL IMAGES COUR TESY OF ASP AN GALLER Y AND THE AR TISTS HBI_048_140-143_La photographie_Almagul_11448445.indd 14229/11/2020 12:41:44 PM143 HarpersBazaarArabia.com/Culture Winter 2020 environmental disasters whose basin encompasses Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan, and Iran - experiences a dream that depicts a disturbing future for her fi sherman father, while the Aral Sea is personifi ed into a female being. Not just “a tool for communication and research with the world,” it is Almagul’s belief that fi lm and photography is a psychological practice “similar to hypnosis and self-actualisation.” While there are certainly allusions to the innocent child’s perspective of state-led violence, the additional presence of decorated and transcendent women suggests that the emanating subjectivity is a reckoning of both the subconscious and the inner child, through which history is recovered. “History is often manipulated by ideologies - it needs to be revisited through different lenses,” Almagul adds, citing feminist archaeology, ethnocosmism, ethnoastronomy, the re-enactment of body memory as integral to her practice. Shown concurrently, Yerbossyn Meldibekov’s sculpture Transformer is a more humorous take on the Central Asian identity crisis, that demonstrates the absurdity of the mutating totalitarian regime. A wooden construction set, the interchangeable pieces allow the sculpture to be reassembled into the ten different monuments that replaced each other on the central square in Tashkent, Uzbekistan’s capital. Ironically enough, Yerbossyn was initially trained as a monumental sculptor under the Soviet regime, before going on to be one of the foremost Kazakhstani contemporary artists. Almagul Menlibayeva is represented by Aspan Gallery, Kazakhstan. aspangallery.com Almagul Menlibayeva. Three Figures. 2012. Duratrans lightbox. Edition 3 La PHOTOGRAPHIE Almagul Menlibayeva. My Silk Road to You. 2011. Duratrans print in lightbox. Edition of 3 HBI_048_140-143_La photographie_Almagul_11448445.indd 14329/11/2020 12:42:01 PM Mohamed Ahmed Ibrahim. Untitled. 2017. Cardboard box, papier-mache, twine. 28.5x25x6cm Accompanied by intimate films, Art Dubai’s online Portraits Exhibition reminds viewers of the intense individual journeys behind works of the region’s most seminal contemporary artists often lost in exponential fairs, writes Iman Vakil Generations THREE SPEAK 144 HarpersBazaarArabia.com/Culture Winter 2020 HBI_048_144-147_Preview_Art Dubai_11425783.indd 14429/11/2020 06:16:39 PM145 HarpersBazaarArabia.com/Culture Winter 2020 The PREVIEW head of the fair’s physical iteration to be held in March, Art Dubai’s series of highly user-friendly digital exhibitions act as art history crash courses, providing a window into the lives and workspaces of key participating artists. Created in partnership with BMW Middle East, the well-scored fi lms provide a space for the artists to defi ne themselves on their own terms, interspersed with studio shots and a look into upcoming work, allowing natural conversation to fl ow. Starting with Timo Nasseri, the digital exhibitions which follow feature Mohamed Ahmed Ibrahim, Dia al-Azzawi, Naqsh Collective, Aya Haidar, Mohammed Kazem and Abdul Rahman Katanani. Emirati artist Mohamed Ahmed Ibrahim, part of the UAE’s fi rst generation of contemporary artists who embraced previously unheard of avant-garde techniques in the ‘80s, insists his practice does not consist of creating a From top: Dia Azzawi. Mission of Destruction (detail 2). 2004-2007; Mohamed Ahmed Ibrahim. Black form on white. 2016 HBI_048_144-147_Preview_Art Dubai_11425783.indd 14529/11/2020 06:16:56 PMFrop top: Abdul Rahman Katanani. A girl with her shadow. 2019; Mohammed Kazem. Photographs with Rags. 2003; Facing page: Mohamed Ahmed Ibrahim in his studio visual language, but is an exploration into the shapes that make up his daily visual landscapes. From the seaside and the three mountains that encase his native Khor fakkan, to the wheels connecting the motorbike that he uses every day, his personal visual interpretation of these shapes are repeatedly combined and reconfi gured on a singular plane. On view, and available for immediate sale, is a collection of the artist’s monochromatic works. His studio is fi lled to the brim with multicoloured antennae-like sculptures of all sizes, photographs throughout the years and books piled atop one another. Scheduled to represent the UAE at the upcoming Venice Biennale, Mohamed’s work is spiritual and continuous, guided mostly by mediating his subconscious, which results in each piece forming its own personality. He explains, “Sometimes they become aggressive. We cannot deal with each other right now,” as the camera points to a sculpture tucked into the corner. The series also features regional works from a generation prior, exhibiting early works from the 1970s alongside recent paintings and prints from the pioneering Iraqi artist Dia al-Azzawi. One of, if not the most, fortitudinous individuals forging a modern Arab Art and cultural heritage, Dia was born in Baghdad in 1939. The artist is known for his richly hued paintings that fl awlessly manoeuvre abstract subjects, taken from fables in ancient civilisations to pop forward toward the viewer, while simultaneously emanating the illusion of depth and hazy shadows. Dia is less inclined to speak on his individual practice. Instead, he shares his observations of the change from localised hubs to more inclusive and prominent global sites for cultural practitioners, and is clearly optimistic about the possibilities and challenges for future MENASA generations. British-Lebanese millennial artist Aya Haidar, whose life and work has been informed by a constant transnational movement that much defi nes our current era, is also invited to explain her practice, providing a distinct perspective. Her work is much more fl uid, as she embraces a variety of new mediums, exclusively working with used items that she re-appropriated and introduces into new contexts, which she approaches as a network and inherently interconnected. Citing generational narratives, and the choice of ‘remembering of forgetting’ as major themes in her work, her work can also be understood as rejecting the practice of distancing ourselves from complex webs of historical relations. Art Dubai’s Portraits Exhibition runs until 20 January 2021. The full schedule can be accessed online on the website. artdubai.ae 146 HarpersBazaarArabia.com/Culture Winter 2020 HBI_048_144-147_Preview_Art Dubai_11425783.indd 14629/11/2020 06:17:04 PM147 HarpersBazaarArabia.com/Culture Winter 2020 The PREVIEW IMA GES C OUR TES Y OF AR T DUBAI AND RESPECTIVE AR TIS T S Naqsh Collective. Unit and Diaspora. 2018 From top: Dia Azzawi. Desert Landscape. 1978; Timo Nasseri. Keeper 2. 2019. Courtesy of the artists HBI_048_144-147_Preview_Art Dubai_11425783.indd 14729/11/2020 06:17:12 PMA visit to Vietnamese artist Lan Stanley’s Dubai home reveals her memory-filled roots through colourful landscapes and scenes from her childhood Words by VERONICA CARPIO in the Desert VIETNAM A slice of HBI_048_148-151_Studio Visit_Lan Stanley_11423959.indd 14829/11/2020 12:30:04 PM149 HarpersBazaarArabia.com/Culture Winter 2020 “O N E D A Y , I W O N’ T B E H E R E . I WA N T T O L E AV E A F O O T P R I N T , SO M E T H I N G T H A T W I L L M A K E P E O P L E R E M E M B E R M E F O R W H A T I H AV E B E E N A B L E T O A C H I E V E ” Artist and art consultant Lan Stanley’s studio is set within a gorgeous villa in Dubai’s The Meadows neighbourhood, amid serene lakes and parks; a tranquil environment away from the daily hustle and bustle of the city. She opens the door with a welcoming smile, dressed elegantly in a fl oral dress and stunning sandals. Noticeable at fi rst glance are all her paintings dotted around the walls in the living room and also some sculptures, antiques and paintings from other artists that she collects. Her home is her studio. She prefers to paint in her house as she feels more comfortable and true to herself here. Surrounded by nature and sunlight, the garden is where the artist can often be found painting away into the evening. Lan started painting at the age of 12. She took her brother to art classes and drew sketches to amuse herself while she waited for him to fi nish. One day, the teacher (Mr. Pham Viet Song, one of Vietnam’s well-known master artists), asked to meet her parents. At fi rst Lan thought she must have done something wrong, until: “She has a gift and should continue developing her talent for that,” said Mr. Pham, of her work. For Lan, art is embedded into her culture, her story and rooted in her self-expression. Lan was born in Hanoi in Vietnam, one of the most ancient capitals of the world, and lived in the USA, London and Hong Kong, until her husband’s job relocated her to the UAE. Living in different countries enriched her journey of self-discovery and has infl uenced several of her works. Her biggest inspiration is the experiences she collects through meeting people and being a mother, a wife and a woman infl uenced by fashion and art. Most of her paintings are centred on females, the relationship between different types of people and cultures, the connection between a man and a woman. The striking oil and acrylic works are a refl ection of the oneness of the world as seen through the artist’s lens and the picturesque countryside in her hometown, bringing to life the sounds, feelings and energy of her native Vietnam. The vibrant, colourful works often note inspiration from the country’s festivals and folk Studio VISIT Facing page: Artist Lan Stanley sits on her sofa with a work entitled Love is in the air. Above: Lan Stanley. White Dove. Acrylic on canvas. 106x132cm. Staircase view HBI_048_148-151_Studio Visit_Lan Stanley_11423959.indd 14929/11/2020 12:30:12 PMNext >