This vibrant portrait depicts a young man with a striking, angular profile against a bold red backdrop. The artist has used a unique blend of warm earthy tones and contrasting dark shadows to sculpt the man's facial features, creating a powerful and emotive visual. The bold, graphic style and simplified forms suggest an Afrocentric or Cubist influence, hinting at the artist's intention to celebrate and elevate the subject's identity and cultural heritage. Overall, this dynamic painting showcases the artist's skilled use of color, composition, and expressive abstract techniques to present a compelling, stylized portrait. ...
Deniz Pasha is a Turkish-Sudanese artist whose practice includes painting, print-making, performance, and installation. She explores the ongoing impact of the Ottoman Empire's treatment of African individuals, specifically as it relates to the experiences of immigrants and migrants currently living in Turkey. Using portraiture, symbolism, and motifs, Pasha highlights the ways in which the historical exploitation of African labor is mirrored in the marginalized and hidden lives of immigrant workers in Turkey. By using critical race theory, she examines the labor practices and laws impacting contemporary African immigrants, and aims to shed light on the experiences and perspectives of marginalized communities. Her artistic process is deeply influenced by intellectual thought and literature, and drawing inspiration from writers such as August Wilson and Toni Morrison, she conducts research, artistic and poetic thinking emerges, leading her to start sketching. This process results in a diverse collection of portraits that are connected by a common thread, forming a cohesive and synergistic body of work.
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