Hayv Kahraman
Extimacy
October 24–November 29, 2012
The Third Line
Al Quoz 3, Dubai, UAE
T +9714 3411 367
www.thethirdline.com
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Eminent artist Hayv Kahraman returns to The Third Line with new work that tackles the complex relationships between gender and identity constructs; geopolitical and physiological boundaries; and, the perception of self vis-à-vis the demands of conformity within society.
Six panels depicting women extracting a cross sectional slice of their own bodies encompass the gallery space. Expanding on her previous series, Kahraman’s depictions of these women personify a hybrid identity hinting to the affinity of dismembered bodies with fragmented geographical locations. This somewhat crude act of detaching a limb is also reminiscent of a violent uprooting and is revealed materialistically in the work. Manifested through the artist’s heterogeneous use of wood and rawhide, the artist forces an unnatural but seamless coexistence between mixed materials.
First explored in her work Quasicorporeal, Kahraman’s inspiration stems from her personal story and own segmented body scan, which she then applies throughout this body of work. Within this framework, she also includes two rawhide lightboxes in the show that depict a cross-sectioned anatomical slice. The violent and nonchalant aspect of plane sectioning a frozen cadaver speaks to a similar detachment and separation that occurs within people of a diaspora or in exile.
Kahraman further extrapolates this point through a three-dimensional sculpture, namely the Möbius body. The structure, of no beginning and no end, aims to deconstruct binary notions of mind and body, male and female, inside and outside; where hierarchy is created by one element inherently becoming subordinate to the other.
According to Kathy Davis, senior researcher at the Institute of History and Culture in Utrecht University, Kahraman’s interest in the female body transcends the aesthetic, prurient, and even the imperialist reason of study. The focus instead lies within “the body as an object for thinking critically about the place women occupy in societies around the world. These representations force us to rethink what it might mean for women to be embodied agents in a world that constantly threatens to disembody them.” As a result, we are forced to rethink social structures and push boundaries, which when merged, create “extimacy”—or “external intimacy.”
About Hayv Kahraman
Hayv Kahraman was born in Baghdad, Iraq in 1981 and is a graduate of the Academy of art and design in Florence. Recent solo exhibitions include Pins and Needles, The Third Line, Dubai; Waraq, Frey Norris, San Francisco; and Seven gates, Green Cardamom, London. Recent group exhibitions include: The Jameel Tour, The Victoria and Albert Museum, London; Institute de Monde Arabe, Paris; Museum of Fine Art Houston; Casa Arabe, Madrid; Disquieting Muses, Contemporary Art Center of Thessaloniki, State Museum of Contemporary Art, Greece (2011); Of women’s modesty and anger, Villa Empain Center for the Arts, Brussels (2011); Taswir, Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin (2010); Unveiled: New art from the Middle East, Saatchi gallery, London (2009). Kahraman currently lives and works in Oakland, California.
About The Third Line
The Third Line is a Dubai-based art gallery that represents contemporary Middle Eastern artists locally, regionally and internationally. In addition to ongoing exhibitions, The Third Line hosts nonprofit, alternative programs to increase interest and debate in the region. Represented artists include Abbas Akhavan, Ala Ebtekar, Amir H. Fallah, Arwa Abouon, Babak Golkar, Ebtisam Abdulaziz, Farhad Moshiri, Fouad Elkoury, Golnaz Fathi, Hassan Hajjaj, Hayv Kahraman, Huda Lutfi, Joana Hadjithomas & Khalil Joreige, Lamya Gargash, Laleh Khorramian, Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian, Pouran Jinchi, Rana Begum, Shirine Guirguis, Shirin Aliabadi, Slavs and Tatars, Susan Hefuna, Tarek Al- Ghoussein and Youssef Nabil.
Media Contact
Farah Kaysi, Communications Manager: farah@thethirdline.com / T +9714 3411 367
