Soufiane Ababri's "Bedwork" uses muted pink and earthy green tones against a swirling pink backdrop, depicting two figures in an intimate, contemplative pose. The drawing embraces a candid exploration of personal and societal interplay through stylized, expressive lines. Reminiscent of Persian miniatures, Ababri's work deftly balances what is hidden and revealed, showcasing his introspective observation of culture, perception, and identity. Created from the intimacy of his bed, the piece captures Ababri’s nuanced exploration of social tensions and personal history. ...
It is in his bed, lying down, that Soufiane Ababri makes his "bed works". In essence, he examines the ambivalence of a society that is criss-crossed by tensions that are not so much the reflection of its contradictions, but rather of its complementarity. His heritage lies in his own story, built up by layer upon layer of personal and intimate events. A lover of sociology, Ababri’s entire body of work plays with the idea of seeing: the artist observes a world that observes him in a form of introspection combining his own unique perception, shared representations and accepted social facts in an exercise that is reminiscent of Persian miniatures and their subtle play with what is hidden and what is revealed. ...
T H E P I L L was founded in 2016 by Suela J. Cennet in the historic peninsula of Istanbul, to operate as a global platform and mobile vessel for contemporary art, supporting artists through a dynamic of cosmopolitanism beyond the dialectics of center and periphery. Initially envisioned by its founder as a space for an aesthetic of friendship, the gallery's programming is strongly inspired by the history and ideas of utopia and dystopia in modernism, with a particular focus on displacement, diaspora, feminisms, and queer aesthetics as reflected in contemporary artistic practices. ...
