- Venue
- Saatchi Gallery
- Location
- South East England
With increasing focus on the 'East' and it's diverse social, political and economic structures, The Saatchi gallery's new exhibition, 'Unveiled: New art from the Middle East' gives us a selection of some of the art practices from yet another region within the vastly generalized region. With the use of words like 'unveiled' and 'the Middle East' the viewer cannot help but approach the exhibition with a certain preconception. Is Saatchi's claim of 'unveiling' anything more than a typical act of the 'West' posing an action on the passive 'East'? Are we going to be shown the truth behind the wall of ignorance, the real identity behind the Burka? Or is this just another import of hand picked artists from yet another 'exotic' destination for region specified exhibitions like 'The new art from China' shown previously at the Saatchi gallery and 'Indian Highway' currently in the Serpentine gallery. With Mr. Saatchi's obsession with the YBA's and loud sensationalism, it is hard to shake off the skepticism.
The exhibition is as always in a grand scale, with the 13 galleries hosting well over a dozen contemporary artists from the Middle East (mostly from Iran and Iraq). Like the artists, the works on exhibition are diverse, presenting a range of techniques, medium and practices. There seems however to be a dominant theme running throughout the show, predictably that of protest, which binds them all together in unison and creates a sub-theme for the show.
Amongst the various artists, Shadi Ghadirian (exhibiting in gallery 11) emits a distinctly sharp and striking message with her large scale C-prints. Using everyday domestic objects replacing the faces of Burka clad women; Ghadirian addresses the popular theme of women’s rights and the stereotype of the middle eastern woman in a catchy way. With each item given a personality, the generalization within the issue is broken down and a charismatic caricature is created. Amongst the depicted there is the gossiping neighbor, dreaded mother in law and the woman to be feared.
Another artist of notability, is Iranian born Laleh Khorramia. This Iranian born artist, despite having only two works on display, recompensates that lack of quantity with sharp quality. Her work consists of large-scale monoprints that have been scratched and drawn over, creating unpredictable and organic patterns of rust like green and brown tones. With the prints, Khorramia invents graphic scenarios of intimacy and imagined or impossible scenes. The result becomes an intriguing and compelling fantasy landscape, which draws you in until you find yourself squinting with amazement, making your own interpretation of the tiny shapes. With no connotations to war, gender discrimination or religion Khorramian's work is a protest in itself against the more stereotypical works of the other artists. It is a manifestation against any preconceived ideas of how a 'Middle Eastern' art should look like or what it should be about. There is no harsh message written over the pieces, but an invitation to use your own imagination.
While Ghadirian manifests herself through her work as a female artist, Khorramian puts emphasis on her art rather then gender. Far from being the best of the group, Khorramian is definitely a breath of fresh air within the stuffy atmosphere of rage fuelled works of Ahmed Alsoudani and his quasi-cubistic depictions of Abu Ghraib and Halim Al-Karim's haunting portrait prints of war victims. This is not to say that those artists are any less intriguing. The whole exhibition is filled with honest expressions from strong artists, however it would be impossible to concentrate their energy into this small review. By looking at these two particular artists the aim was to provide a sample, a taste of the exhibitions palette.
Shadi Ghadirian’s work expresses the most straightforward approach concerning the preconception of women’s roles within an Islamic environment, while Laleh Khorramia presents an alternative, a work that is free from the dominant theme that seems to restrain the rest of the exhibition.
The show has highlighted some of the many controversial issues in the Middle East, which have a large presence in the global media today. To some extent the true face behind the Burka was unveiled, exposing the secretive elements of the societies, which are incorporated into the show. The themes, which were most dominant, were those of religion, women in their social context and conflicts within the regions. The artists’ vast use of different techniques, styles and materials helped to create a strong presence of originality throughout.
