ARTISTS
I don鈥檛 want to be there when it happens
I don鈥檛 want to be there when it happens brings together artists who
explore the psychology of contemporary trauma. Recent works by Raj Kumar, Sonia
Leber & David Chesworth and Adeela Suleman all confront the larger
socio-political realities of Pakistan in the era of contemporary warfare.
Through video and installation, the artists address the experience of the
individual in the midst of a continuous state of war. By scanning the landscape
with nonsensical logic, futilely seeking to document destruction, and
questioning the appropriation of religion, the artworks in the exhibition avoid
resolution and closure. Instead, they highlight the individual鈥檚 inability to
comprehend the expansive uncertainty of combat, and the impossibilities of
representing the trauma of conflict.
I don鈥檛 want to be there when it happens presents truth as a precarious oscillation between fiction and reality. The artists resist literal or documentary approaches to their subjects, relying instead on speculative, symbolic, ambiguous and unstable modes of representation. In doing so, they emphasise how the individual鈥檚 attempts to understand and comprehend the reality of contemporary conflict are equally characterised by uncertainty and irresolvability. I don鈥檛 want to be there when it happens also seeks to acknowledge and present a multiplicity of perspectives on the ongoing conflicts in Pakistan and its region鈥攑erspectives which are all too easily overlooked or obscured by Western media and political interests.
Adeela Suleman鈥檚 work to be shown in I don鈥檛 want to be there when it happens has been co-commissioned by 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art and The Keir Foundation.
Recommended for you
I don鈥檛 want to be there when it happens brings together artists who
explore the psychology of contemporary trauma. Recent works by Raj Kumar, Sonia
Leber & David Chesworth and Adeela Suleman all confront the larger
socio-political realities of Pakistan in the era of contemporary warfare.
Through video and installation, the artists address the experience of the
individual in the midst of a continuous state of war. By scanning the landscape
with nonsensical logic, futilely seeking to document destruction, and
questioning the appropriation of religion, the artworks in the exhibition avoid
resolution and closure. Instead, they highlight the individual鈥檚 inability to
comprehend the expansive uncertainty of combat, and the impossibilities of
representing the trauma of conflict.
I don鈥檛 want to be there when it happens presents truth as a precarious oscillation between fiction and reality. The artists resist literal or documentary approaches to their subjects, relying instead on speculative, symbolic, ambiguous and unstable modes of representation. In doing so, they emphasise how the individual鈥檚 attempts to understand and comprehend the reality of contemporary conflict are equally characterised by uncertainty and irresolvability. I don鈥檛 want to be there when it happens also seeks to acknowledge and present a multiplicity of perspectives on the ongoing conflicts in Pakistan and its region鈥攑erspectives which are all too easily overlooked or obscured by Western media and political interests.
Adeela Suleman鈥檚 work to be shown in I don鈥檛 want to be there when it happens has been co-commissioned by 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art and The Keir Foundation.
Artists on show
