A solo exhibition by Prina Shah
Prina Shah
Opens on Wednesday, 15 June 2022 and runs until 23 July 2022
The artist will be present at the opening on 15 June, from 16h00 to 19h00, and on 16 and 17 June, from 14h00 to 18h00
Small stylized figures, which seem to touch, placed in a circle to create a suspended space, figures that are a symbol of being seen and heard. An art that gives importance to sign and form in their most essential meaning, emphasizing a symbolic and meditative approach.
Prina’s art tends to abstraction and originates from the idea of questioning and exploring the inner self, and the process that unfolds along the way. This body of work is in response to the impact the pandemic has had on the self, the relationship and communication with the self and the environment. Through her work, the artist processes a deeply painful personal and family grief, in the aftermath of the loss of her father due to Covid-19.
This artistic project was conceived alongside meditation, a mindful path of self-awareness and reflection on how one relates to others.
The pandemic has changed many dynamics and generated fragility, but it has also showed the fallacy of the concept that a human being can live in isolation, alone, up against the constant life challenges.
The artist's journey is not meant to simply describe reality but to convey more nuanced and indefinite feelings that suggest emotional states and penetrate into the essence of things which can be perceived only with the soul. This journey generates a ‘centre of love’ capable of a dialogue with diverse interlocutors.
The objective is to go beyond the appearance of reality: reality is not to be found in the objective existence of things but in ideas; the essence of reality is not what is seen through the naked eye but what is perceived with deep awareness. In Prina's works, this idea is suggested by the dots placed on the heart centre which create light points, more precisely coloured bindis, which in Indian culture are worn in the centre of the forehead and for Prina represent love.
These artworks, through the use of circles and the movement created by them, challenge the idea of space, circumscribing it in a personal journey of change, in transition, invoking closeness.
At the same time the artist invites viewers to change perspective to see new challenges and new ways of being together. Space is continuously negotiated by the relationships experienced in it.
These stylized figures inform you about the unknown, ask you to investigate new scenarios, to create new concepts, in an attempt to understand phenomena still unknown, trying to reach where words cannot.
These small paper bodies are a communicative medium to express complex emotions that requires the presence of others. Me which becomes We, within an iridescent space of different colours and textures representing new resources and challenges for the future.
It is not by concidence then that Prina uses wedding invitation cards for her work. These invitation cards are indeed symbolic, carrying a history with each one having its own story. They carry vibrational energy made up of touch, connections, personal visits, and joy, which once were a natural state of being.
Bodies well connected to the mind, mutually harmonised. Breathe in new perceptions, breathe out old ones. Body in the spirit and not vice versa.
The silhouettes are only close to each other, they do not physically touch. A small space separates them, perhaps irreversibly, but they are united, in the artist's intentions, in a new dimension and in a common purpose of deep sharing, to suggest expanded awareness and a more conscious way of living.
Beatrice Polato
Exhibition Catalogue
Click on any image to scroll through the catalogue.
