Ghazel / The Life Span of a Ballpoint Pen / Marée Noire / Black Hole #1 - #6

Zeichnung 70x100 / Kugelschreiber und Tusche auf Landkarte / Drawing 70x100 / black ballpoint pen and drawing ink on map / Video / 26:50 min

text 1a

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In both series of images, Ghazel creates her own world maps in which she conveys the geographic order of her state of in-between. As a self-described hybrid Iranian nomad, Ghazel sketches the topography of her uprooting and migration. The tree, whose roots grow in the southern hemisphere and whose crown points up to the northern, symbolizes her search for identity. From the severity of the political map, the seriousness of geopolitical interests is conveyed, whose equivalent is the slowness of the drawing. In contrast are the performance videos of the artist, in which the merciless austerity of the borders is countered by personal humor."

text 2a

"These works are complimentary.There are several recurrent symbols in my work such as trees, roots, "Home", suitcase, heart, etc. simply drawn like a child's drawing or in a more narrative and complicated form. Uprootedness, migration and effects of war/War have been represented like this in my work since 1990 when I was doing my Masters in Visual Arts. Before that my work was much more brutal, directly inspired by the death of a close friend during the Iran/Iraq War.It took a long time (1997) for humour to make its way into my work and I believe it is still the most personal "Me" side of my art." (Ghazel)

text 3

Vita / Bio / Life

Ghazel was born in Tehran, Iran in 1966, she lives and works in Tehran and Paris. She holds a BFA and MFA in Visual Arts from l'Ecole Supérieure des Beaux Arts, (Nîmes, France) and a BA in Film Studies from l'Université Paul Valéry, (Montpellier, France)

She has participated in many international biennials, including the 50th International Exhibition Venice Biennial in 2003, the 8th Havana Biennial in 2003, the 3rd Tirana Biennial in 2005, the 15th Biennale of Sydney) in 2006, and the 7th Sharjah Biennial in 2005.

Her works are in many public collections including: Musée national d’art moderne, Centre Pompidou (Paris), MUMOK Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig (Vienna) and the CNHI Museum (Paris).

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Ghazel, geboren in Teheran, lebt und arbeitet in Teheran und Paris.

http://carbon12dubai.com/artists/ghazel/