Artist In Exile's Waiting Room Exhibition 2004-2005

Here are two paintings that I got the chance to scan recently.The first one up is " The Veiled Woman and a Dove " and the second one is " Woman and a Parrot". I had two more paintings in the exhibition which I didn't get the chance to scan them .

There were Six more artists from AIE exhibiting their works: Martha Elsesser, George Berberian, Marina Gordan, Mohamed Bushara, Margareta Kern, Suzana Tamamovic. The works were all very interesting and different in style which also included installation and sculptures.

The exhibition was Curated by Asako Yokoya from 198 Gallery and Caryne Chapman Clark , and was funded by The Funding Network.

It was a touring exhibition in four Surgeries in North and East London which started from September 2004 and finished in December 2005.The works were all fited into wooden boxes which made it easy to be transported, same boxes are being used for The Waiting Room Exhibition in Oxford at the moment with different artist .

It was a very successful exhibition and a very different approach to exhibiting art in public places and we had such a great feedback from the paitients in the surgeries which many of the were suprised by finding an exhibition in their surgeries.

Here is a paragraph from the press release:

"The range of different work exhibited here explores a variety of ideas arising out of the paradox of being entrapped and liberated at the same time in the search for a new home in a new country. The desire and longing for the familiar in a foreign place, the nostalgia and homesickness for what is no longer, the reclaiming of personal spirit and individuality; these are all subjects touched on by the artists involved in this exhibition."

BBC London Family History Day Sunday 12th February at the British Library

There was an opportunity for me to exhibit some my work,in an exhibition in British Library's main hall ,for the BBC's Family History Day on Sunday 12th February.

It was a big event and many talks and workshops were taking place and apparently all of their tickets were sold out.

About 12 artists were taking part in this exhibition and they all had family related works which many of them were photographic work. It was a very interesting exhibition and had a nice variety.

I displayed a nice collection of prints, which my Grandfather's ghost was the major work that I had actually finished for this event.I gathered the works that were related to my family , which in some cases I never imagined them to be, and discovered their relation just before the exhibition which amazed me very much and decided to include them .

They were all given titles and I came up with some description about them which might offend some of the family members , but I enjoyed the whole process and realised new things about some of my old paintings.

The only shame was that I couldn't be there during the whole event and there for couldn't get any feedback from the viewers

When I decided to paint " My Grandfather's Ghost " I knew exactly how I wanted it done.This his first portrait I have done in years, I was about seven or eight when I drew his profile with his eyes shut ,and did a few unfinished works when he was alive.

I imagined him in his usual spot, watching in TV , as he didn'thave many other options in his last years,I think he is watching an action history film. Historical films and book used to absorb him so much as he would become part of the their reality.

Having endless tea and sweets was his greatest childlike desire, which was normally interrupted by my grandmother's lethal nagging techniques, that was whenever she felt that he is going to have a sugar over dose; although he never had a blood sugar problem in his entire life.

While painting him, I felt so close to him and even felt his presence, he was smiling at me right through the painting and I could see with every little touch of pencil his figure would totally change the pose.