Peer Sessions # 114 @ Chisenhale Gallery

Abdollah Nafisi // Banita Mistry

7-9pm Weds 18th Dec 2024

Chisenhale Gallery, London E3
chisenhale.org.uk

Notes

This Chisenhale Crit took place during Bruno Zhu's current exhibition License to Live (until 2nd Feb 2025) at Chisenhale Gallery, with guest responder artist Hannah Perry, facilitated by Peer Sessions.

Abdollah Nafisi shared his works 'Inwards' and 'Outwards'. These consisted of a series of sculptures made in wood and metal, which the audience were invited to interact with, by tapping them with an assortment of sticks and rods to generate sound. One of the sculptures, a large piece of roughly hewn wood, had its own soundtrack, while another was white and featured a large megaphone shape. The discussion began with observations about how interacting with works was a playful experience, and lead some to consider the works as active, rather than passive objects. Others noticed how the works articulated the nature of sound, by producing it, representing it (as in the large megaphone-like object), and embodying it - by themselves becoming musical instruments.

Banita Mistry showed 3 canvases painted in various ways using henna, one was from a series titled 'Flights', and the other two from a series 'Screens'. At the start of the session, Banita performed the act of creating the works, adding lines to one of the 'Screens' paintings. The participants were fascinated by the performative aspect of the work, and felt this emphasised the many layers that were apparent - both physically in terms of layers of paint, but also in terms of layers of meaning. There was much discussion of the woven-look of the work, and also the cultural significance of henna as a material for decorating the hands and feet of women on ceremonial occasions. This raised the prospect of whether there was a gendered aspect to the work - in terms of the traditional hierarchy in the artworld, which often overlooked and denigrated crafts as 'women’s work'.