DEGREE SHOW
Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art, Dundee, 2008
The universal tension of creation and destruction is referred to in these works in the very nature of their being. Controlled and random manipulation of scrap-metals with acids produced a range of colours and organic pattern. These were further fused with oil paint & varnishes.
Discarded metal was procured from scrapyards around Dundee, thrown away in many forms, products of UK consumption. Much of a Scrapyard's metal is shipped to developing nations where ‘smelting’ occurs in conditions prohibited by British H&S standards. Some of these new refined metals are then exported back to British soil for safe use.
Of the metals used in my work, some had specific previous ‘identities’ such as ATM plate cut-outs, fish farm walkways or freezer panels.
Upon assigning new ‘life’ to these objects, knowledge of the old identity allowed a continuation of that life in its symbolic or metaphorical relationship to the new given function or intent.
Experiences of Pakistan’s vastly different culture, and in particular, hardships of life in a developing country, fuelled the subject matter within the work. Often I saw a grim and sometimes co-existent contentedness with, what seemed in my eyes, the fight to survive. Issues such as child labour and the rich/poor divide, importance of religion/ spirituality and tight-knit family life also provide main themes.
Primarily through attention to portraiture, these themes are referred to, many holding personal memories of a specific, often tense situation.