Tashkeel is holding Ways of Seeing, a solo show by Lebanese artist Jamal Tayara-Baroudy that delves into the connections between human experience, geography, and memory. It also highlights how important plants are as a sustainable resource. The exhibition is being held at FN Designs (an art and design studio on Alserkal Avenue, Dubai) and will be on view until the 28th of November, 2023.
The exhibition features the artist’s latest series of works she created as the 17th graduate of the Critical Practice Programme (CPP) by Tashkeel. CPP helps UAE-based artists by offering them studio support, training, critique, and production. While participating in the programme, Tayara-Baroudy’s mentors were curator Lesley Ann Gray and Dr. Mohammad Abiad, Associate Professor and Director of the LEAF at the American University of Beirut.
Over the last 18 months, the artist has been focusing on the giant milkweed (Calotropis Procera), a plant native to Africa, Pakistan, Asia, and Indochina. To produce her body of work displayed in the exhibition, Tayara-Baroudy used different parts of this plant (pods, fibres, seeds, stalks, and leaves) she harvested by hand.
In particular, the artist has been exploring various materials which can be made from Calotropis Procera. Often considered invasive and toxic, it has numerous valuable uses: medicinal, environmental, agricultural, industrial, and social. Through her research and its results presented as photographs, illustrations, and commodities, Tayara-Baroudy brings to light this plant’s potential. She also calls the artwork she has produced “a re-evaluation of our relationship with nature and the inherent value of flora.”
About the artist
Jamal Tayara-Baroudy (born in Lebanon), a multi-disciplinary artist and graphic designer, graduated from Lebanese American University and studied at the Sotheby’s Institute of Art (London, UK). She started her career working in and freelancing for advertising and branding agencies. In 2002, she founded JamJar Design, her branding agency. In 2011, the artist established Art Like This, a graphic and art studio concentrating on art and design projects and site-specific installations. In addition, Tayara-Baroudy has been among the members of Tashkeel since 2016.
The artist has been in love with nature since childhood, which informs her visual practice. Fascinated with the tension between the natural and the human worlds, she combines digital techniques (for example, scanning) and analogue ones (drawing in ink and pencil) to investigate the intersection of science and art. Her work involves transforming organic materials both visually and by hand, employing materials from plants which she gathers, and analysing these natural forms.
Tayara-Baroudy has taken part in some exhibitions held across the UAE, such as The New Beginning of Thinking is Play (Tashkeel, Dubai, 2019); Islamopolitan (Maraya Art Centre, 2014); and Geometric (Maraya Art Centre, Sharjah, 2013). Her first solo exhibition was Garden After (1971 Design Space, Sharjah, 2015). She has also collaborated with Brazilian artist Vane Barini for Arquivos Orfaos, a group exhibition in Sao Paulo. In addition, Tayara-Baroudy was shortlisted for the Van Cleef & Arpels Middle East Emergent Designer Prize 2020 Edition 7: Flora.
To learn more about Ways of Seeing, you should visit the show’s official web page.
You might also be interested in looking at Samur by Zheng Bo.
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