Parvin Peivandi: Objects in Exile, A Memoir
@ Amazigh Contemporary
2 E Erie St, Chicago, IL 60611
Opening Saturday, June 22nd, from 2PM - 6PM
On view through Saturday, June 22nd
In the exhibition “Objects in Exile, A Memoir” Peivandi, Chicago-based Iranian-Canadian artist, reflects on the lived experience of displacement by reimagining a new life and body for exiled and neglected objects such as remnants of rugs and scrap metal. Fusing or composing them with other materials, Peivandi proposes these objects as interlocutors between the individual and a certain place or time. Doing so, her sculptures narrate the emotions, hopes and struggles of the migrant bodies. Like individuals, these displaced objects find different unknown destinations as some end up in museums, some are disposed of, or become evocative objects in a domestic place.
At Amazigh Contemporary, Peivandi highlights the domestic space as a context for the objects that are the anchor points in her practice. Among the works in the exhibition is “An Alien Doormat Welcoming All” (2019), for which Peivandi used steel scrap from a metalshop where art students have practiced laser cutting, and stitches remnants of a Kurdish rug to it. Fusing these materials, she brings a sense of care for the two neglected objects and creates an opportunity for acceptance and togetherness through the language of materials. To create “The Weight On My Shoulder” (2019), Peivandi used a discarded Victorian style bird cage and placed it on top of a little Kurdish rug from Iran. The rug is concealed under the base of the bird cage and carries its weight, addressing the continuing imperialist domination of Iran and its consequences for the life, culture and displacement of Iranians in the present moment. Intersecting personal narrative, materiality and collectivity, Peivandi invites everyone to build a personal relationship to these works.
Parvin Peivandi is a Chicago-based Iranian-Canadian artist that makes art across disciplines including sculpture, painting, drawing, performance, installations, and community art projects. By deconstructing the architectural elements and juxtaposing conventional and unconventional materials together, she explores the spaces of personal and public narratives, memories of the place and the dynamics of social and political systems.
Photo credit: Mostafa Peyvandi
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Tags: Amazigh Contemporary, Objects in Exile A Memoir, Parvin Peivandi, River North
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