KHADIM ALI
TRANSITION / EVACUATION
Solo exhibition at ARNDT Singapore
June 28 - September 6, 2015
Opening | Saturday | June 27, 2015 | 4 - 7 pm at ARNDT Singapore
ARNDT has partnered with Art Stage Singapore to host an exhibition walkthrough with Khadim Ali on Saturday, 27 June at 2.30 pm. We will be joined by Singaporean curator June Yap for the guided tour. Admission is free but seats are limited. To register, please email singapore@arndtberlin.com.
ARNDT Singapore is pleased to announce its first solo exhibition by Khadim Ali.
Following the style of miniature painting and rug making, Sydney-based artist Khadim Ali makes use of traditional methods in his work which draws inspiration from Afghan mythology dating back thousands of years.
The artist hails from the Hazara minority in Afghanistan where his family was forced to flee from their home, escaping Taliban massacres. They settled in Quetta, Balochistan in Pakistan where Khadim was born and raised. In 2000, Khadim was accepted into the National College of Art in Lahore, Pakistan, where he specialised Miniature Painting. The turbulent times were unrelenting, and after losing many family members to the Taliban, Khadim realised it was no longer possible to continue his art making in Pakistan. He was offered a distinguished talent visa by the Australian government in 2010, and moved to Sydney. The relocation offered him greater mobility, and the opportunity to develop work incorporating other art forms.
Khadim Ali’s current body of work reflects his many concerns and demonstrates an adept way of combining mediums and conceptualizations. Speaking about his work, Ali states “It’s a medium of confrontation, connecting me with my present collective identity”. The artist´s deepening anxieties about events in the region he still calls ‘home’, (both Pakistan and Afghanistan) reflects his responsibility concerning his role as an artist-- and despite the harrowing conflicts that are implied throughout most of his practice, an unexpected sense of heroism prevails.
Read Salima Hashmi's essay 'Fierce Narratives' included in exhibition brochure.
Khadim Ali earned a BFA at the National College of Arts, Lahore, Pakistan in 2003 and has completed artist residencies in Japan through the Fukuoka Asian Art Museum (2006) and Arts Initiative Tokyo (2007). Ali's work was featured in the shared Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan Pavilion at the 53rd Venice Biennale (2009), Venice, Italy and in Documenta 13 (2012), Kassel, Germany. He has exhibited in group exhibitions such as: Future: Afghanistan, Gemak, The Hague, Netherlands (2008); Living Traditions, Queen’s Palace, Kabul (2008), and National Art Gallery, Islamabad, Pakistan (2009); Safavids Revisited, British Museum, London (2009); Only from the Heart Can You Touch the Sky, RMIT Gallery, Melbourne (2012); and Home Again—10 Artists Who Have Experienced Japan, Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo (2012).
Khadim Ali’s work is held in the collections of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney; Australia, Queensland Art Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA), Brisbane, Australia and the Guggenheim Museum, New York.
Khadim Ali: Transition / Evacuation from Arndt Berlin on Vimeo.
ARNDT Singapore
Gillman Barracks
9 Lock Road #03-21
Singapore 108937
Tel. +65 67340775
PRESS
Art & Australia | Khadim Ali: Transition/Evacuation | August 1 2015
The Straits Times | Art rooted in war, conflict | June 30 2015
