Maryam Keyhani: Here, There Are Others

The Iranian – Canadian artist delves into the process of converting trauma into art

“It’s always a lot more scary, as an artist, to put yourself out there when dealing with personal issues rather than hiding behind your work,” says Iranian – Canadian artist, Maryam Keyhani of her first solo exhibition entitled Here, There Are Others at The Mine. 

Using handmade brushes, combs and other spontaneous materials, Keyhani presents a collection of makeshift objects, inspired by her own experiences of trauma and anxiety. Both beguiling and disturbing, the surreal figurines question the relationship between perception and identity in a way that leaves audiences speculating over what costumes they might wear in times of trauma and distress.

Describing the exhibition as a “dinner of misfits”, Keyhani suggests that each item is a nod to a dinner guest who sits in eerie silence, neither dead nor alive, simply longing to escape their reality. Donning dishevelled pastel meringues and sleek geometrical shapes, each more extravagant and surreal than the last, each object brings into question the artists’ use of objects to explore her own subconscious.

Meant to “evoke in us a feeling of how truly complex we are as people” Maryam Keyhani’s first solo exhibition Here, There Are Others is a nod to surrealism and retrospection in a method that dispels society’s constant need to look ‘put together’ whilst allowing audiences to resurrect their own notions of what being ‘put together’ actually looks like.   

Maryam Keyhani: Here, There Are Others runs until November 9, 2016 at The Mine, Al Quoz, Dubai