Maryam Jafri

Over the past twenty years I have worked across varied media including expanded sculpture, video, and photography, with a specific interest in questioning the cultural and visual representation of history, politics, and economy, but with an anarchistic, often emotive approach. My practice is informed by a research-based, interdisciplinary process that draws upon diverse traditions from literature and theater to pop and conceptual art. My works often bring together both found and original material, whether in installation or moving image formats. Above all my art practice is grounded in an engagement with the formal and conceptual qualities of each media, periods of extensive research and planning, and the mysterious but crucial role played by forces that lie outside deliberation and preparation such as accident, chance, and intuition.

What I am working on now / current interests

Keywords: Consumer culture, sexuality, mental health, globalization, platform capitalism, wellness culture, family trauma
Medium(s): Photography, video, sculpture (assemblage/found objects mostly), installation
Geographies/terrains: the global south, the overdeveloped north, the unconscious mind, the exploited soul, the fragile body, the worn out heart
Tone: humor, horror, despair, defiance

Pedagogical approach and expectations of students

Group Critique is a common platform for discussion and presentation of works and methods. Student are encouraged to bring in works in progress. The aim is to follow a work throughout its development and give feedback an analysis at crucial points in the process. Students learn to discuss and debate their work in an atmosphere of curiosity, respect and honesty. The aim is to defend one’s work without being defensive, understand how others see the work and if that is different from how one sees one’s own work, and what that difference means if anything. It is vital that everyone both presents and participates actively in the discussion - to respond to what they see in order to support the development of one´s peers. The work is understood as being both independent of the artist but also a tool with which to understand the artistic process and working method. Thus, there is also a lot of discussion about not just what we make, but also why and how we work. We emphasize process and foundations - how to build a sustainable art practice - and this means this group critique is best for students in the earlier stages of their khio adventure (MA1, BA1, BA2).
Expectations: show up! be on time! put away your phone! be prepared to learn! even more important, be prepared to unlearn and have the courage to change
Schedule: We usually meet 3 times a semester for 2 full days.
Tone: direct, honest, rigorous critique.
Verbs: do, undo, redo, dissect (Art is a verb, not a metaphysical identity).

www.maryamjafri.net