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Hamra Abbas at the 10th Istanbul Biennial |
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10th Istanbul Biennial, 8th September 2007 to 4th November 2007 |
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Hamra Abbas’s Lessons on Love series exhibited at the Biennial, takes its name from the Kama Sutra (of which it is a translation) and is inspired by varied miniature paintings from old manuscripts. Appropriating selected images Hamra shifts them into the present day context as three dimensional, life-size figures. The artist’s engagement with these works stems from her own amused response to the irony of the armed act of love that the figures depict. The figures themselves are a mock serious comment on the socio-political reality of today, where the power games played out on the international stage are camouflaged in ambiguous wordings and actions.
Hamra has worked on Lessons on Love over a number of years, using first clay and then fibre-glass to make the figures. In these works, created in-situ for the 10th Istanbul Biennial, she has found the perfect medium. The use of Plasticine best conveys the dicthotomy between serious and flippant, in both conception and execution, allowing the sculptures to be seen in the way she had originally intended – as playthings.
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Detail, Lessons on Love I
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