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Maryam Hoseini's Every Day Abstractions | Art21 "New York Close Up"

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    [Gowanus, Brooklyn]
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    So much of being an artist
    depends on daily life,
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    daily interactions, daily politics.
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    And so much of the work
    is about representation of self.
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    ["Maryam Hoseini's Every Day Abstractions"]
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    The first time that I realized that
    making drawings is something I really love
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    is when I was thirteen.
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    I had this teacher at school,
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    and the way that she was teaching--
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    and also she's such a strong being,
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    as a woman in a place like Iran--
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    that I think I was so interested in that.
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    I vividly remember the time that I was like,
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    "I want to just go to these drawing classes."
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    "I want to keep making work."
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    And I had piles and piles of papers
    at my parents house.
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    I always feel like I'm a drawer.
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    I start with it,
    I make some painting,
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    and then I make drawing on top of it.
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    So it's always a back and forth.
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    So I was asked to make work about
    this famous poem,
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    "Layla and Majnun."
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    It's about a forbidden love.
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    I developed this series,
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    "Secrets Between Her and Her Shadow."
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    I was more interested in the female character,
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    because apparently
    no one was paying attention to her,
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    because it was all about
    how Majnun lost his mind.
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    I was so curious about Laylah
    as this very vulnerable female
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    that was banned from speaking
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    and even desiring
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    what she really wanted.
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    I think so much of the work,
    it's a mix of humor and fear.
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    There are moments that you really laugh
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    even though you're afraid of a lot of things.
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    In my earlier paintings,
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    the space the figures are located
    is more legible.
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    For the past few years,
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    I have really used that legibility.
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    I have chosen to present
    the bodies without the head,
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    because of the politics around identity.
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    These fractured spaces
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    and fragmented bodies,
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    that is somehow the reflection of
    my own personal experiences and life,
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    as an immigrant
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    and as a person who is not even
    able to travel to my country,
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    and to return to my work
    and life here in America.
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    I mean, these bodies they have anxiety.
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    But also on the other side,
    they are very strong.
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    I am giving them power.
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    I constantly think about the body
    interactions inside of the painting
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    and the body relationship
    to the physical space around it.
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    I'm interested in the space between
    painting and drawing,
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    public and private.
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    That in between space
    provides some sort of openness
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    for the bodies to move fluidly,
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    for the viewers' interpretations.
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    The presence of people there,
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    it almost completes this--
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    or builds this--
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    performance there.
Title:
Maryam Hoseini's Every Day Abstractions | Art21 "New York Close Up"
Description:

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Video Language:
English
Team:
Art21
Project:
"New York Close Up" series
Duration:
05:35

English subtitles

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