fractured//fluid terrains
Shireen Taweel
11
May 2017
11
May
2017
26
May 2017
7UP
Fractured//fluid terrains expresses a sense of transience through the impression of shifting foundations. The works speak of movement, upheaval and rupture. This encompasses a constant interaction with new practices, behaviours and customs, and the experience of being the Other. fractured//fluid terrains focuses on the process of metallurgy, specifically copper, as the material speaks a richness of ancient traditions. The geometric metal piercings indicate something distinct and inherent about cultural practices that are simultaneously reworked in new contexts. This shift in process reflects conversations around the sensitivities of the migrant experience of transience and how one may transform and make room for different practices simultaneous to echoes of tradition and heritage of origin.
Fractured//fluid terrains expresses a sense of transience through the impression of shifting foundations. The works speak of movement, upheaval and rupture. This encompasses a constant interaction with new practices, behaviours and customs, and the experience of being the Other. fractured//fluid terrains focuses on the process of metallurgy, specifically copper, as the material speaks a richness of ancient traditions. The geometric metal piercings indicate something distinct and inherent about cultural practices that are simultaneously reworked in new contexts. This shift in process reflects conversations around the sensitivities of the migrant experience of transience and how one may transform and make room for different practices simultaneous to echoes of tradition and heritage of origin.
Shireen Taweel
Shireen Taweel’s practice reflects the diasporic landscape she inhabits as a Lebanese Australian, employing cross-cultural discourse around the construction of cultural heritage, knowledge, identity, and language. Through sensorially immersive installations that draw on architecture, Islamic science and ritual, Taweel brings to light histories and cultural practices that have been buried beneath the weight of social political power structures. Her most recent work rests speculative astral architecture upon a diverse foundation of past celestial technologies.The development and research for her projects are often site-specific, working in collaboration with local communities, their architecture and their environment with a focus on experimentation in material and sound through site. Through the contemporary use of heritage coppersmith artisan techniques, including engraving and hand-piercing, Taweel’s works create a space for shared histories and fluid community identities.