In conjunction with her CCBC gallery show, we asked artist Yalda Bozorg to share with us a bit about herself, her inspiration, her audience and her other projects.
The exhibition will be on view in our gallery from October 6 – November 24, 2022.
I think drawing could be one of visual art’s most misunderstood terms/actions. What do you think what drawing is? A bunch of lines entangled that would resemble something? A few lines informing a maker what to do with the material? A process that enables you to turn your immaterial thoughts into a shape you can see, touch, and show to others? Maybe drawing is all of these possibilities, or maybe it is something else entirely. Drawing informs me visually and feeds my practice conceptually. Every movement of the mark-maker changes the face of the mark-receiver, and this constant “change” became the focus of my project.
“The desire to know myself.“
Please tell us about yourself: your journey as an artist, your creative process and what you are passionate about.
I am a PhD student, when I’m not making, I am reading and trying to write. Yes my research is closely related to my practice.
I was born in Iran during a war. I lost my grandmother during a bombe attack and I believe this incident made my path for me. I am very sensitive to violence and I’ve made three categories for violence manifesting itself in our lives. One is through mental health issues, one is through people we live with like partners, parents, children etc. and one is through the society like bullying, oppression via governments, war etc.
I have briefly worked on war and depression but for the last five years I have focused on emotional and psychological abuse. These are the themes that I am passionate about however what makes me want to be in the studio is the material with which I am working. Materials create their own language based on the environment that they occupy. I enjoy the conversations I have with them and the creative process is what keeps me sane to work with such difficult concepts.
Drawing functions as different tools through practice. In each project stage, drawing informs the maker differently and can shapeshift as the project evolves. In my practice, drawing turns into a monitor that displays my mind and subconscious and allows me to reflect and study what I think I already know, but I do not.
The audience engagement with things depends on their experience and life. Usually if they have lived through war, depression or abuse they find understanding and empathy through my work…
Yalda is an artist/researcher who is creating new visual vocabulary, using different materials and techniques. From first lines on a piece of paper to the final steps, she considers herself not to be in charge of the process but only one component amongst many others that contributes to it. Her practice, similar to her PhD thesis, is multidisciplinary. Instead of being loyal to one discipline or one material, she is eager to search for the answers everywhere, from archeology to hands on making, from theories to auto ethnographic studies and from clay to metal and textiles.