Anahita Razmi's "New Silk Road Patterns #02 / Dubai" features a monochromatic photograph where a central figure stands against an intricate geometric patterned backdrop. The prominent text on the t-shirt disrupts the visual harmony, infusing modern consumer culture into traditional Islamic design motifs. This piece blends photography with cultural critique, employing stark contrast and minimalism. Razmi explores identity and cultural appropriation, recontextualizing symbols from the Middle East within a Westernized framework, reflecting on the complex interplay between regions and perceptions. ...
Her video, installation and performance works focus on issues of identity and gender and examine processes of cultural appropriation in which the meanings of existing images, artefacts and thus identities are put into question by situating them in another context. Razmi often uses strategies of disarrangement to consider structures of perception within consumer and pop culture against the background of different communities between ‘the West’ and ‘the Middle East’. The Islamic Republic of Iran, with its current political and social conditions and relations, remains an open, ambivalent point of reference. ...
CARBON 12 was established in 2008, initiating a comprehensive, firmly global, program of institution-grade artists. Internationally active, Carbon 12 continuously introduces and promotes both established and emerging artists to the
UAE contemporary art scene, supplementing its 6-8 annual exhibitions with diverse contextual activities including
publications and talks that actively engage the public and educational institutions. The playful, organic process that
constitutes the creative production of Carbon 12’s artist base is facilitated and mirrored by its location in Al Quoz. ...
