On Maryam Kouhestani's Sculptures at Inja Gallery

Original text in Farsi by Amir Esfandiari

Translated to English by Omid Armat

"Give me a body then!"

- Gilles Deleuze, Cinema 2

Inja Gallery hosted an exhibition of Maryam Kouhestani's sculptures from October 1 to 15, 2021. The show titled "Within Flesh and Bones" was actually the first collaboration between Inja Gallery and the artist. She had displayed her works in several solo and group shows before. In this series, eight ceramic sculptures are created in different sizes and are installed in different places in the gallery; on the ground, on platforms, and in niches. Some of them are installed to interact with the viewers to some extent; viewers can introduce minute changes in the sculpture's location simply with their hands. The sculptures are installed in the bright space of the gallery with its ambient lighting.

 

Kouhestani has focused on the human body and figure as her subject. These sculptures with their different bodies and organs are installed in different relations to each other and are distant from the normal scales of the human figure. Although her sculptures are naked, no specific gender is discernable about them. They are devoid of conventional gender types. Some of their organs are created disproportionately compared to their other organs; sometimes their head, hand, or foot is built too big or too small, and sometimes two organs are connected to each other in a way that it is not possible to separate them. Next to these complete figures, we face separated organs, like a foot or a hand, which are located near other bodies or are trying to connect to them. They are created in pieces and are not formed as whole bodies. Their connection is also not aimed to make them united, but to try to produce different forms of bodies which have not been experienced yet. The possibility to make changes in the initial installation leads them more towards new forms and bodies.

The definition of the body presented in "Within Flesh and Bones" is not a static one, and we can refer to it as "bodies", the plural form of "body". However, there is a limited possibility of making changes in their presented form. They tend to become mutable bodies, and they try to convey such a sense even with their static forms. These are undetermined, uncertain bodies and organs, that may connect with or disconnect from each other at any moment. They are related to each other, either where multiple figures and organs are installed, or throughout the whole series installed in the galley. They may be far from or close to each other, but they subjectively join the connection sequence.

Engagement between bodies and organs in the "Within Flesh and Bones" series provides a way out of the [conception of] personal body. By paradigmatic and syntagmatic relation to each other, these bodies and organs deny any centered identity attached to humans or any object. The figures are devoid of any identity. This lack of identity makes it possible for them to become unknown bodies, thus not being confined to any limits. They make sense in relation to each other and don't convey any meaning separately. Bodies in this series don't look for any complete, ideal form. Rather, they tend towards the opposite direction and are receptive to the formation of the body as well as different and dynamic combinations.

"Within Flesh and Bones" series, by utilizing the elements mentioned above, looks for a way to approach [a conception of] all bodies through a new experience of the individual body; bodies formed in relation to each other, developed and ascended beyond their initial formal appearances.