It won’t take long for a visitor to the “Art of Living” exhibition, which is being held by the Canadian Cultural Center in Paris from the 13th of last May to the 21st of October next. links Which brings together the three artists participating in it, although their names refer to three cultures and three spots. geography different.
The first of these links is immigration and travel, and the second is Canada itself. Immigration led Palestinian Joud Abu Zina from Kuwait, where her family used to live, to Canada; This is the same country as Suhaila Esfahani from Iran, and Xiaojing Yan from China.
But the most profound link may be what the organizers want for us exhibition To know him before anything else, as they tell us in the introduction to the pamphlet they dedicate to him: “They share this strange feeling, which is to live in between, not completely immersed in space, but in staying suspended between two worlds, suspended on a thread. A slave made of some of the basic symbols of their mother cultures, symbols they don’t hesitate to modify though.”
Symbols do not appear here in their urgent, ambiguous meaning, but in their most cultural, deepest, and most influential reference to the lives of people, individuals and groups: that is, as objects through which cultural and social ties are held. These symbols may be dishes and pots filled with water, such as the one suggested by the artist Suhaila Esfahani, who refers to a common tradition in her country, as well as in Arab culture, in providing water for travelers and travelers, through what is known as the “Water Path.” , which is placed publicly in public.
Female artists evoke symbols of great presence and influence in their mother cultures
The symbol may be represented in the porcelain spoons from which Xiaojing Yan builds an installation in the form of a bridge; These spoons are commonly used in East Asia and China, where their presence goes beyond the food space to become an expression of cultural commonality between these countries. Also in the world of food, Joud Abu Zawda suggests a series of works on the Maqluba dish, where she proposes miniature circular structures that recall this well-known dish in the Levant. In one of the series’s works, rice grains and digital printing are used to write the word “home” A reference to the questions of belonging and identity that food might mean for immigrant families.
The symbols that the three artists prepare for include cultural works that are less material than food, where Suhaila Esfahani makes a plank of wood on which branches and birds are carved, with motifs reminiscent of Islamic decorations, whether in Iran or the Arab world; It also displays an installation similar to the Hurufiyyat paintings, in which it presents verses from the poetry of Ibn al-Roumi.
While Jude Abu Zina uses neon lights to write phrases that dig deep into Arab culture, such as “Once upon a time,” Xiaojing Yan recalls in its fixtures Chinese traditional dresses, and elements of home decoration in East Asia, in addition to plants and trees – such as willows. It has a symbolic dimension in life and folklore in her country and in other places visited by the artist.
