Looking at contemporary and historical practice as an increasingly important contribution to the Australian cultural, political and economic scene

LANGUAGE AND TEXT: ARTIST

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Hamra Abbas

Abbas was born in Kuwait in 1976 and now lives and works in Berlin and Lahore. She attended the National College of Art, Pakistan, the only school where one can receive a degree in Persian miniature painting holding true to the Mughul traditions of art. She studied under the master painter, Bashir Ahmand. Abbas is now living and teaching in Berlin on an artist fellowship.Her work is shown internationally and most recently at the Biennale of Sydney, 2006

Practice (including World Audience, Artworks)
Abbas examines the structures of power and authorisation. Her work breaks down the traditional mode of painting to involve conceptual installations that explore notions on being a Pakistani artist studying western art values. Artworks
MoMa is the Star (2004) is a video based on the footage made outside the New National Gallery. Here Abbas is presenting a challenge to the cultural hegemony as seen through the Museum of Contemporary Art. It is a metaphor for the “plurality of vision” of East and West.

I Can’t Really Explain What It’s Like, But Someday I’ll Take You There (2004). The title is taken from writings of the 13th century of a Persian poet expressing the dispersal of identity. Abbas has used this to relate to her own circumstances including that of a woman, Muslim, artist, Asian, daughter, sister, and single person. Abbas has created three different series of paintings of miniatures appropriated from ancient book covers.

Please Do Not Touch, Stay Out And Enjoy The Show (2004)
Gouache, collage New York.
This work consists of thousands of small strips of paper, printed and laid out into traditional pattern, typical of Islamic mosques or miniatures.

One Just Right For You (200) an installation and performance in which a single seated figure is overlaid by a projection of repeated Islamic text phrase. As in most of the artist’s work, questions of religious and ethical identity are being raised.

dense but deep, (2003-4)
Image performance shows a single figure, cloaked in text, writing on fabric.

I am the enemy, you killed my friend.

References

www.ifa.de
This page provides biographical details of the artist and review of early work.

www.thephatory.com
Review of recent work that is a combination of traditional and multimedia pieces that examine the artist’s identity through personal experiences.

www.jang.com.pk
This site discusses the position of artists working outside their cultural boundaries, the interest for the Berlin artworld in multicultural issues and includes an interview with Hamra Abbas in which she outlines her personal philosophies.

Zones of Contact 2006, Biennale of Sydney