University of Hertfordshire 2005/2006
Frangis Shahrokhi
I am a British Iranian visual artist based in Hertfordshire. My work
has been shown widely. Two of my shows were major solo exhibitions
called Mass Hollow at 198 Gallery (November 2004 / January 2005) and a
group show at the Gallery of Modern Art, (Glasgow, April- September
2003) called Sanctuary: Contemporary Art & Human Rights.
I started my artistic ambitions in Iran a couple years after the 1978
revolution. I arrived in the UK in 1985 as a political asylum seeker.
My practice developed through a concern to explore cultural/political
agendas, employing performance in relation to installation and
photography. I am exploring a wide range of media processes as well as
sculpture and time based imagery. I work with abstract representations
of the human body to communicate both literally and metaphorically,
using domestic objects such as safety pins, spoons, cloth, rose
blossoms, and hair. My aim is to challenge preconceptions, and to raise questions about dehumanization, such as human alienation and oppression of women. While my artistic expression comes from deeply personal places and influenced by my background, it is also concerned with more universal issues around the contemporary human condition. In my art work I am interested in showing the state of emotion, sensation, and phenomenon inflicted on humans by contemporary violations.
I displace, distort and rearrange domestic objects from their usual
context in order to give them a new identity. Displacing and
distorting domestic objects from their 'normal' context serves to raise questions about the function, meaning and value of objects as well as extensions of human beings in our society. This metaphor enables me to raise questions on our preconceptions.
In most of my installations I invite the spectator not to simply look
at installation but to participate in it. I intend the spectator
become part of the installation and the installation to become part of
the spectator. Engaging the audience in my work is a vital factor in my work. The spectators are usually the more submissive part of an
exhibition or show. The spectators would be inspired and challenged
from a piece of work by playing an active role in a part of it. I seek to manipulate and blur the boundaries between the 'artist and the
audience'. I like to explore the performances of making artifacts by
the 'artist and the audience' alongside each other and explore the ways of engaging audience to become part of an active role in making a piece of art.
