Survey on Identity in Stal gallery
Artist: Javid Ramezani, Marjan Habibian, Joachim Hainzl, Maryam Mohammadi
The Identity Exhibition opened on the evening of December 6th in Stal gallery Oman. In this exhibition four Artists gathered to share their Idea about Identity. Content of this exhibition shaped under the concept of present and past national identity and migration and all these four artists with different backgrounds bring an art work out of this concept. The art works are made in the medium of painting, photography and photo-art.
The Human image as the main container of identity has got a bold appearance in most of the works and other signifiers like calligraphy, colour, patterns and cultural signs like fabrics and clothes are deepen the idea behind the images, such as hand colouring and embroidery as well as calligraphy writings and Keffiyeh.
Exhibiting this show in Masqat a calm and quiet city in the country that it’s Arab identity mixed with a long history of cultural exchanges with its neighbors as well as Iran, has a place between nostalgia and review of a geographical reality called the Middle East. Especially when 3 of these artists were born or live in Iran or while living in other countries facing the challenges of Identity literally and permanently.
Who are we? In this series of artistic projects, four different artists based in Austria, Iran, and Oman, present their personal aesthetic perspectives about their interpretation of identity in different cultures with the artistic techniques of painting and photography which will be displayed at the “Project Identity” exhibition featuring works by Javid Ramezani, Marjan Habibian, Joachim Hainzl, Maryam Mohammadi.
The construction of our identities in a global world always is a multiple one. Especially in the case of these four artists, who are moving between the cultural codes and geo-graphical areas of the so called “Orient” and “Occident.” While on one hand their identities rely on their personal experiences, on the other hand they reflect about the global constructions and influences of specific social, cultural, political, and religious conventions.
So, behind the huge diversity of the presented artistic projects – there is a common question – who are we all?
Javid Ramezani statement:
In this series search of identities is tied to time and memory.
We strive to create hope. All of our existence is product of hope. Hope to be able to withstand the burden of life anxiety.
In the honest dialogues that occur in these works, I try to express the truth of my emotions. The truth of human emotions in relation to their past, future and their relatives, those who feel their absence and have no way to escape their absence.
To understand the passage of time, you look at the sun and planets, and sometimes look at photo albums, but throughout daily life there are moments you feel as a 20 years old person or a 10 years old or a 50 years old. Memorabilia photos are the same ones that remind us that we are controlling the time. But when we face the truth of absence, no photos will help us. This is a mild, flowing and progressive truth. In the process of creating these pictures, I try to forget about that absence and create my own inner time; sometimes I think all the things people do is to stop the outer time, a time that has no mercy for us. When you stand in front of these picture remember all those who are no longer in your life. Remember the history that made outer time. These pictures are both in small and large size, in small ones they have beauty and dailiness sense, and in large ones they have beauty and referring to an eternal truth, without both inner and outer time, what can we do, except to take photo, a photo as a memorial on the wall or in our mobile phones.
This is my identity, flowing and dominated by time.
