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Ciel variable Art, photo, médias, culture

Lida Abdul, Centre A & Western Front, Vancouver. January 23 - March 1, 2008 Sadira Rodrigues

Les couleurs de la ville Colours of the City Number 79, Summer 2008

URI: https://id.erudit.org/iderudit/19492ac

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Publisher(s) Les Productions Ciel variable

ISSN 1711-7682 (print) 1923-8932 (digital)

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Cite this review Rodrigues, S. (2008). Review of [Lida Abdul, Centre A & Western Front, Vancouver. January 23 - March 1, 2008]. Ciel variable, (79), 58–59.

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This article is disseminated and preserved by Érudit. Érudit is a non-profit inter-university consortium of the Université de Montréal, Université Laval, and the Université du Québec à Montréal. Its mission is to promote and disseminate research. https://www.erudit.org/en/ le mouvement sous laform e d'une PAGE PRECEDENTE silhouette floue. Nous pourrions yvoi r une Clara Gutsche métaphore du passage du temps, de la Via Nazionale,pres o dalla villa Aldobrandini,Rome , 2002 présence éphémère des hommes face à la Épreuve chromogénique pérennité des monuments. Rome semble 66x91.5 cm effectivement avoir bien peu changé de­ puis plus d'un siècle,comm e lesoulign e la DavidMille r Santa Maria délia Consolazione, Rome, 2002 similitude entre lesœuvre s deGutsch e et Épreuveargentiqu e Miller et les photographies de lavill e da­ 38x 4 8c m tant de187 0 qu'elles côtoient dans la pu­ blication qui accompagne l'exposition [toujours à paraître]. Letravai l des photographes se partage entre ces vues qui représentent Rome comme une ville musée et des paysages urbains en couleur, surchargés d'éléments deClar aGutsch e et David Miller s'inscrit hétérogènes. Ces scènes extérieures met­ dans une tradition documentaire qui s'at­ tent l'accent sur la superposition de multi­ tache àdécrir e un lieu àtraver s son archi­ ples couches historiques, qui en viennent tecture. Leurs œuvres expriment néan­ àcrée r des dissonances visuelles :de s af­ moins une vision subjective qui s'attarde à fiches publicitaires, desgraffitis , des pan­ rendre lesdiverse s ambiances qui imprè­ neaux de construction, des néons et des gnent laville ,d e même qu'à évoquer la re­ voitures sedétachen t sur fond de ruines. lation qu'un peuple entretient avec son L'utilisation de la couleur rend lavill e plus histoire. Rome,qu i àun e certaine époque vivante, ici les bâtiments historiques ont extérieur. Lesartiste s n'en saisissent pas féminins. Ces mises en scène de produits était un passage obligé pour tout artiste davantage l'air de participer du mouve­ moins certains moments de lavi e quoti­ deconsommatio n s'ajoutent àl a collec­ désirant asseoir sacarrièr e et fonder sare ­ ment généralqu i anime l'image. «Th e dienne des habitants de laville . Des gens tion des paysages vitrés de Gutsche.Ainsi , nommée, est ici plutôt un nouveau terri­ complexity and layeringo fthi s city isama ­ font leurs emplettes dans un marché exté­ le monde intérieur des Romains est reflété toire d'exploration pour des artistes déjà zing »,déclar e Miller dans une descorres ­ rieur, uncoupl e s'embrasse dans une non seulement par la piété qui habite les bien établis. pondances électroniques que nous livre la ruelle, des religieuses setiennen t immo­ intérieurs religieux, mais aussi dans leses ­ publication,à l amanièr e d'un carnet de biles àl'intersectio n degrande s artères paces commerciaux. L'image d'un e bou­ Ju/ie-Ann Latulippe poursuit unemaîtris ee n voyage. devant le flux des automobiles. Les habi­ tique dechandelier s et de statuettes de étude des arts à l'Université du Québec à Defait , les photographes représentent la tudes devi e et l'imaginaire des Romains saints souligne au passage que la religion Montréal. Ses recherches portent sur le rôle de ville non pas entan t que citoyens, comme sont par ailleurs habilement révélés par n'échappe pasà l a marchandisation. la photographie dans l'écriture de l'histoire et dans leurs précédents projets enracinés lesvitrine s de commerces allant du maga­ Comme entémoignen t lestitre s en italien dans la constitution de la mémoire collective. dans lacommunauté , mais comme des sin detissu s au marché alimentaire, de qui identifient simplement lelie ue t la date voyageurs qui posent sur Rome un regard l'animalerie àl a boutique de vêtements desprise s devue ,l etravai l photographique

one country to another, knowing full well Geographic and the poetics of documenting that at everyjunctur e I was aguest ,wh o at acountr y where no image could ever any moment might beaske d to leave. The encompass the breadth and depth of its refugee's world isa portabl e one, allowing people's experiences.Thes e photographs for easy movement between borders. It is arecomplement s to performance videos one that can betake n away aseasil y as it shown inth e rest of the gallery. In amonu ­ was given:provisionall y andwit h a little mental projection, What We Sa wUpo nAwak ­ anxiety on the part of the host." 1Abdu l ening (2006), Abdul documents a surreal refutes coherent narratives and signs that performance of destruction of the ruins ofa attempt to reflect straightforward relations building.Th e performance beginswit h a amongsubjects , places,an d identities. close-up of men dressed in traditional Aware of her own state of mutability, black clothing, movingwit h Herculean Abdulexplore s relationships between effort. Asth e camera moves out, we architecture and identity in post-war become aware that the men are holding Afghanistan through film, performance, white ropes and pulling onth e ruins ofa and photography. Architectural ruins house (one that was destroyed by a recent appear in herwor k asbot h realan d imagi­ bombing in Kabul).Ove rth ecours eo fsi x nary sites,wher e the performative gestures soundless minutes,w e watch this group in of men, women ,an d children arese t in an adanc e that is poignant and futile - their attempt to represent the residues ofdevas ­ actions asorrowfu l metaphor for the tation and conflict.Throug h architecture attempt to survive amidst the ravages of and its representations, she posesques ­ war.Th e performance endswit h the bury­ White House, 2005, Film Production Still,Courtes yo fGiorgi oPersan oGaller y tions about constructions of place and ingo f awhit e stone that is perhaps an act identity, specifically the West's collective of closure or amomen t of communal heal­ imaginingo f Afghanistan. For her, architec­ ing.Th e ritualan d repetition of their asi t isa n integral subject in her two exhibi­ ture issubjec t and object; site of living actions,combine d with the loopingo f the LidaAbdul tions concurrently onvie w at Centre Aan d socialexchang e and memorial to history; work, seem an acknowledgment by Abdul Centre A & Western Front, Vancouver the Western Front inVancouver . Both monument and anti-monument. ofth e fate of Afghanis:despit e their striv­ January 23-March 1,2008 shows areful lo f lyricalan d poignant works At Centre A,thi s focus is represented ina ingt o gain control through acts of sheer that point to the impossibility of represent­ series ofwork s installed in aconsidere d resilience and compulsive gestures, she Born in Kabul,Afghanistan , in 1973, Lida ingth e past and ongoingravage s to her and movingexhibitio n bycurato r Makiko points to the complex processes of survival Abdul lived in Germany and India asa native country: "How dow e come face to Hara.Include d area grou p of beautifully and recovery. refugee after beingforce d to leave her facewit h 'nothing'wit h 'emptiness' where shot photographs of Afghani landscapes Abdulemploy s ritualan d repetition as homeland followingth e Soviet invasion of there was somethingearlier . I was a that tread acarefu l balance between the metaphors for healingan d reconciliation 1980. This brief biography seemscritical , refugee myself for afe w years, moving from monumentalizing images found in National richly throughout herwork . In WhiteHous e

58 CIEL VARIABLE N° 79 (2005), ina landscap estrew n with ruins, ways,witnessin g her pieces islik e attempt­ Abdul painstakingly paints the rubble ofa ingt o makevisibl e(bu t never resolve) the destroyed building white . Invokingth e idea contradictions and the paradoxes ofou r ofwhitewashin g history, for Abdulth e most understandingo f her homeland. difficult thing ist o move beyondth e mem­ Born in Kabul,Afghanistan ,i n 1973, Lida ory of anevent , pointingt o the losso f the Abdul resides there now. Her most recent navigational principles that determine our work has been featured at the Venice Bien­ understandingo f belonging,identit y and nale 2005; Istanbul Modern; Kunsthalle place - the "contingent ethics ofgeographi ­ Vienna; Museum of Modern Art Arnhem, calemplacemen t inwhic h we might jointly Netherlands; Miami Central;CA CCentr e puzzleou t the perilso fth e fantasms of d'Art Contemporain de Bretigny; and Frac belonginga swel la sth e tragedies of not Lorraine Metz, France. She hasals o exhib­ belonging."2 ited infestival s in Mexico,Spain ,Germany , Withwor k that takes upth e subjects of Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan,an d Afghanistan; history and memory asAbdu ldoes ,ther e is Shewa s afeature d artist at the Central always the possibility of resortingt o famil­ Asian Biennial 2004. iar tropes found in popular media,an d to usethe m indidacti c and simplistically sin­ 1 LidaAbdul , "Statement " http://www.lidaabdul.com/statement.htm gular (neo-Orientalist) ways. By implicating 2 Irit Rogoff,"Introduction, "i n Terr a Infirma herselfwithi n the complex act of memory (London:Routledge , 2000), p. 3. making,Abdu lavoid s this;instead ,sh ecre ­ ates poetic spacestha t allow viewers to Sadira Rodrigues isa nindependen t curator interrogate thefamilia r and the personal. andart sadministrato r basedi nVancouver . She Herwor k combines rituaized formalism iscurrentl y involvedi npubli cprogrammin ga t with mythology and playfulness, seekingt o the VancouverAr tGallery . Whatw esa wupo n awakening, 2006, Installationvie wa tCentr eA , understand the surrounding world . In many Courtesy of Giorgio Persano Gallery 8cCentr e A. Photo: William W Ting.

show the objects that throw them, thereby foliage - bright orange and ochre against a Cheryl Pagurek giving the "ground" that is home a fleeting blue sky - surrounded by hundreds of per­ quality, asi f anticipating its passing. fect circlescreate d byth e refracting light Ephemera, Patrick Mikhail Gallery, Ottawa, There isa sense , then , in Pagurek's work onwe t pavement. In five of those circles, January 9 - February 3, 2008 that astabl e reality, stable histories, will Pagurek inserted fragments of family pho­ not befound ,bu t can becreate d asimagi ­ tos: the facean d feet of unknown relatives, nary constructs that have Utopian 1values . bits and pieces of her grandparents' furni- AsAndrea s Huyssen writes inTwiligh tMem ­ • ture,an d afragmen t of aphot o of herself ories,"I n an ageo f an unlimited prolifera­ asa teenager. Over the years,Chery l Pagurek's art prac­ tion, accentuate this longingfo r stability, tion of images,discourses ,simulacra , the If there isa positiv e outcome to theJew ­ tice hasgraduall y shifted from sculpture the wish to stop time and hold amomen t in search for the real itself has become ish myth, intha t the original disaster pro­ and installations to printed photographs place.I n Passagean d Reflections, both Utopian." Pagurek creates connections duced opportunities for humanity to be and,finally , inth e present exhibition,t o the Pagurek's home imagery and the framing of amongth eJewis h diaspora, the dispersal creative andcarin gtowar d the world, per­ ultimate Ephemerao f moving digital the stills can berea d asdevice s to createa and lost identities of old family photo­ haps the splinteringo f photography into imagery.Th e more fleeting her work real,concret e settingfo r dispersed, graphs,an d abroade r contemporary sense the endless and ethereal synchronic juxta­ becomes, however, the more strongly it ephemeral imagery. of unmooring inth e unending flood of position of images could produce a similar showsa desir e to anchor familial memo­ But the rippling puddles inReflection s meaningless images.I n the context of this Utopian desire to set things right. Pagurek's ries,whethe r historicalo r personal,t o a make the street and its houses appear frag­ exhibition, the photograph Reflection 8 exhibition provides asit e inwhic h to solid, tangible object or site,a stabl e place ile,i n danger of disappearing.An d the brings to mind astor y from the Kabbalah. explore aparalle l between the splintered that would allow stories to evolve from interwoven family photographs appear In this creation story, God's original uni­ universe of Jewis h mythology , and the somewhere, rather than shatter inth e syn­ upside down,which ,a t first sight, turns verse isdescribe d asa shattere d glassves ­ shattering effects of unlimited reproduc­ chronic presenceo f fleeting images. them into abstracted patterns. Passagei s selforeve r in need of mending.Th e photo­ tion. TheJewis h tradition of constructing Anchoring the fragmented, dispersed similarly unstable;th e shadows do not graph shows the reflection of atre e in fall unity and identity ina shattere d world per­ imagery of Pagurek's photographs and vades the work with asens e of hope. videos inthi s exhibition are images of her Pagurek no longer counters the loss of present home and street. They forma materiality by usingconcret e materials in background,a projectio n screen,fo r a whirl sculptural installations; instead,sh e works of archival video footage and family snap­ through the technological realities of con­ shots. In light boxes and avideo ,Passage , temporary life and attempts to provide a the artist traces apla y of light and shadows senseo f the real, even within the material on the walls and floors of her house - limitations of lens-based art. Herwor k pro­ inside and outside, from morningt o night. vides hope that ashattere d universe can be She interweaves this footage with glimpses mended; she makes abeginnin g by artfully of her own family life and images ofJewis h reassembling people's lives, piecing places life from pre-war Europe and the immigrant to memories, providing homes and stories ghettoes of America: portraits,childre n at where none remained. play, marching troops,an d horse-drawn wagons. 1 AndreasHuyssen , Twiligh tMemorie s Marking Similarly, every photograph in the series Timei na Cultur eo fAmnesi a(Ne w Yor kan d London: Routledge199S )p 10.1 Reflections mirrors lampposts, trees,an d houses onwe t sidewalks and in puddles on Petra Halkes isa nartis t andwriter . Herboo k Pagurek's Ottawa street,whic h lends the Aspiring to the Landscape waspublishe db y fragments of old family photos that they the University ofToront o Pressi n 2006. incorporate acertai n stability. Framed stills Reflection 8,2006, Inkjet print o n semi-matt ephotographi c paper, 43.4 x 65 c from the video,whic h round out the exhibi­ Courtesy of Patrick Mikhail Gallery

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