IT BLEEDS, THEN IT LEADS

Gautama (2017) by Faig Ahmed

Photos by Akber Dewji/Aga Khan Museum

BY KIMIYA SHOKOOHI

There’s an understanding in traditional journalism that doesn’t deviate far from films such as Alan J. Pakula’s take on the journalism industry in “All the President’s Men” – or in the case of our audiences, the book “All the Shah’s Men” by Stephen Kinzer. It insists that if a story bleeds, it leads. In the construct of journalism’s classically inverted pyramid, where the most important stories go first, the more violent a death, a crime, a brutal termination, the higher its coverage in the news program. Much like, in an alternative analogy, the worst-performing team in the NBA gets the first draft pick. There is beauty and resilience in deconstruction for reconstruction.

This is where “Dissolving Order” by Faig Ahmed enters the scene. The exhibit by the internationally renowned artist based in Baku, Azerbaijan, insists that the destruction of the classic Middle Eastern emblem – going from order to chaos, to new horizons – is a process with deliberate intent. It takes something traditional, like the classic Middle Eastern carpet, and hurls it into a kind of car accident akin to the story of Princess Diana (may she rest in power), so that it can emerge having turned into something that provides greater retrospection.

“Ideas that have been formed for ages are being changed in moments,” says Ahmed as the exhibit’s accompanying tag line.

Ahmed’s 2017 sculpture in particular, “Gautama”, reflects the swirling chaos behind the creator’s intent. The carpet, which follows an otherwise traditional design expected of Islamic tapestry art, features a break in the textile’s linear construct. The melting dip, right smack in the middle, forms a daemon-like face in the curvature of the tapestry’s upper portion. The lower portion oozes into a swirling, listless display, causing the viewer to follow an experience akin to a visual coma for years and years. No doubt, this isn’t a quick and painless reflection.

"Faig Ahmed takes one of the most traditional art forms and infuses chaos into it. But instead of stopping at chaos, he restores stability, creating something distinct, solid, and new. At the same time, he helps us better understand and connect to the tradition he’s disrupted,” says Bita Pourvash, assistant curator at the Aga Khan Museum.

Pourvash continues through a statement provided by the museum’s marketing and communications director, Kelly Frances, that to her, the chaos – the madness – is the source of the sculpture’s creative genius.

“The stability here is the new visual strength that he defines and achieves in his works, despite the disruption that he makes into the harmonious design of the traditional carpets,” she says.

From order to chaos, to new horizons, the center-piece of “Dissolving Order” shows the heartbreaking process, like an oil spill sparkling across water despite its devastating realities. The very need for the chaos, it may well be construed, is that the direction of the tapestry weaving right before it hits the dip is one where the art of the narrative isn’t quite right. And that’s the beauty of it.

Ahmed’s work has made several such statements, challenging perspective through exhibitions worldwide. His website lists New York, Mumbai, Rome, Sydney, and Dubai as just a few places where he has had his art showcased. In 2013, he was awarded the Jameel Prize, an international award in contemporary art and design inspired by Islamic tradition. The prize is awarded to pieces that provoke wider debate about Islamic culture and its role in today’s society. 

Other notable works by Ahmed include the 2016 “Points of Perception”, which includes a large wave of green and gold Muslim prayer mats lined up to form a Tsunami-like wave. The exhibit appeared in Rome, Italy between Feb. 10 to March 29, 2016.

From order to chaos, to new horizons, the center-piece of “Dissolving Order” shows the heartbreaking process, like an oil spill sparkling across water despite its devastating realities.

Returning to the fate of narratives, whether in sculptures or in moving pictures, is that stories can pivot, break a pattern, and return to an even better state. One film, that is fictional but we recognize, all the same, is Michael Curtiz’s cult classic, Casablanca. The film, which is a World War II-era drama, premiered on this day in New York City in 1942.

Washed in hues of black and white, Humphrey Bogart’s Rick Blaine tells Ingrid Bergman’s Ilsa Lund to chin up. Despite their seemingly sad ending, closing in separation, he ensures her in so many words that even if they are to never again see each other again, their story remains imprinted in one another. He says, in reassurance, looking at a heartbroken Lund in Morocco: “Here’s looking at you, kid.”

We imagine, that if that film had picked right back up, out of that chaotic madness and back into bright and orderly Middle Eastern pattern, perhaps Lund might have had the last word. Perhaps she would snap back, all the same, before making her way onto the Tamarack to catch her flight out for new horizons. We might imagine she would say: “Go look at yourself, baby!”

“Dissolving Order” runs October 31 through March 21, 2021, at the Aga Khan Museum.

____________________

Kimiya Shokoohi is a journalist specialized in digital content and documentary filmmaking whose work has spanned across four continents. Her work can be seen on the BBC World Service, CBC, The New York Times, International Olympic Committee, Olympic Channel, and U.S. Olympic Committee.

This article was originally published on The Young Persians.

The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Pacific Council.