Culture3
Multimedia Installation, Textiles and Painting
I created “Culture3”, a multimedia installation merging fiber art with painting to highlight similarities between American, Indian, and Pakistani culture. I invite viewers to physically step inside a culturally hybridized space to ingest the artwork. This space becomes the point of translation for all of these regions to coexist, thereby making the viewer question how and why that space works together. With the braided curtain, I aim to allow viewers to create an entryway into the aforementioned space. Generally, entryways act as portals to alternative locations. By intentionally having the viewers activate this portal, they become byproducts of this cultural bridge. Origins of these textiles come from India and Pakistan and were passed down to me by both of my grandmothers. I wove and braided them together to emphasize how well they work together, but also allow them to shine on their own when laid flat on a canvas. Using organization and framing, I was able to reference the canvases back to American culture. I used fringe as a framing element to reference back to how fine art used to be embellished. Atop the canvas, I positioned the fabrics on a grid, the backbone of American art. Linear organization on a plane has become something that Western artists have adhered to and exploited. Historically, a defining factor of Western art was the use of linear perspective. The grid allows for “Culture3” to be represented mathematically. Logic theory proposes three distinct scenarios that activate the work: biconditional, exclusive or, and disjunction. These scenarios have symbols that represent the relationship of concepts and take into consideration the sum of all the parts. The titles attributed to the individual pieces reflect a more in-depth relationship of how this is taking place.
-SHYISTA AHMED
