For the 2024 Sarabande Dom Perignon dinner, I created two photographic artworks featuring my grandparents, who were organic farmers. These pieces build upon the themes explored in my Family Album series, where I use living watercress and photosynthesis to create photographs, often portraying family members. This special process results in images free from toxic chemicals, plastics, and minerals, existing only temporarily before naturally decomposing.
The Family Album series is characterised by its ongoing cycle of works-in-progress and works-in-decay, challenging traditional notions of lasting materiality in photography. Instead, it presents art as ephemeral, meant to be experienced rather than possessed. In this new project, the images capture my grandparents working the land, with their faces prominently in the foreground and the landscape they cultivate visible in the background. These artworks celebrate the deep connection between people and the earth, highlighting their dedication, pride in their labor, and the legacy of care they have nurtured for other species and the land.
This project also seeks to honour the often overlooked yet essential labor of farming. The living cress artworks have been cultivated on wooden folding room dividers, creating an immersive installation that invites dinner attendees to walk through the pieces as they transition from the dining room to the cocktail area. This interactive setup allowed guests to engage closely with the artworks, enriching their experience as they seamlessly moved through the space.
This June I took part in The Garden of Tomorrow Festival via the Nature The Artist exhibition curated by The Great Imaging (Gavin and Deborah Turk association) in collaboration with Hard Art Collective (Brian Eno Studio). It brought together the works of over 50 different artists, writers and musicians who use their creativity to honour the natural world. The festival was organised by House of Hackney.
I also took part in a group exhibition at Marie Jose Gallery, organised by Daughters for Earth co-directed by Iraqi American women’s rights activist, writer, television show host, and podcaster Zainab Salbi. The exhibition was part of the Kensington + Chelsea Art Week.
I am thrilled to be part of METAMORPHOSIS, a group exhibition curated by Lily Waterton that will run from the 25th of May to the 29th of July at Saatchi Gallery. Here are some install shots of works from The Pigment Change series.
Some of the installation shots have been taken by Harry Sweeney.
I am very excited to share that I am taking part in the exhibition “Natures Vivantes Images et imaginaires des jardins d’Albert Kahn”, focusing on the museum’s collection but also including works from contemporary artists Lia Giraud, Baptiste Rabichon, Kristof Vranken, Terri Weiffenbach and me. It will run from the 30th of April to the end of the year, I can’t wait to see it!
I am delighted to be included in Sarabande’s 2024 International Women’s Day exhibition curated by Shirin Fathi. The exhibition includes works from Sarabande 2024 artists and alumni. For the occasion, I created a new artwork from my Family Album series depicting my best friend from childhood Leticia, who died in November 2023 as a victim of domestic violence. With this artwork, I wanted to celebrate the life of my friend and bring attention to violence against women as a quiet but omnipresent reality affecting 1 in 3 women in the world according to a 2018 analysis from the World Health Organization.
