Perfumes & Bazaar, 2005
Lara Baladi
Perfumes & Bazaar, 2005
photographic montage,
500x248 cm
Installation view
Overview
The two photomontages Perfumes & Bazaar and Justice for the mother are trompe l'oeils of walls in a living-room covered with wallpaper showing on one side a teeming garden of earthly delights and on the other a jungle. They are filled with iconography inspired by representations of the Chateau de Versailles, waterfall light boxes – direct reference to a "made-in-China" aesthetic – and photomontage posters of idealised landscapes. From out of these landscapes populated with a multiplicity of objects and people, imagery of the jungle, the wilderness, war and sexuality, Baladi’s father rides his motorbike: away from his youth, his roots and the politics of the Middle East. He rides towards the viewer, but also towards the commanding photograph of the artist's mother, here representing the original paradise, the womb.
This project was part of Sharjah Biennial 8.
Related
Sharjah Biennial 8: Still Life, Part I
This catalogue accompanied Sharjah Biennial 8, which attempted to renegotiate the relationship between art and ecology into a system of cohabitation.
Sharjah Biennial 8: Still Life, Part II
The second book in the Still Life: Art, Ecology and the Politics of Change series, documents Sharjah Biennial 8 as it was on view.
Baladi, Lara
Interdisciplinary artist Lara Baladi employs photography, video, sound and installations to create interwoven images of past and present, myth and reality, with a focus on the Middle East and particularly the Arab Spring. She explores ways in which interactions between images and technology affect visual narratives.