Giovanna Pennacchi is delighted to present for the first time in Italy The Sleepers Series by Sana Kazi, a work focused on the relationship between photography and miniatures.
The Pakistani artist began by shooting photographic portraits of young subjects (women and men) that she transferred onto sheets of wasli paper, the traditional handmade paper used for miniatures that was prepared beforehand with a layer of ash.
The “sleepers” faces, painted with natural pigments made by mixing various minerals with sand and ground stones, reflect an idea of suspension and the unfinished, which for the artist is conceptually significant, as it allows interaction with viewers that have the freedom to “reconstruct” those faces through their own imagination, according to their own ideas of ”truth.”
The aspect of repetition is just as important as it introduces the themes of continuity, harmony, rhythm, the transitory nature of time. Elements that are associated with the spiritual search for eternal love, rooted in collective memory.
In particular, they have a deep connection with the Sufi practice of repeating the name of God and His attributes, known in the Muslim religion as Zikr.
The invocation itself with its rhythm of repetition and its synchronization leads into a state of trance that is beyond space and time.
“Every single portrait gets repeated four times,” Sana Kazi affirms. “In going from passage to passage, it loses its formal consistency. These four stages of the journey are an allegory of the beginning of life, even before the spirit is blown into the womb, followed by birth, by death, and finally by eternal life. The alternation in the cyclical nature of life is shown in a serene transitory state of sleep.”
ACTA INTERNATIONAL
Direzione: Giovanna Pennacchi
dal martedì al sabato, ore 16 – 19,30
via Panisperna, 82/83
00184 Roma
tel 064742005
