Rossi & Rossi are delighted to be staging the first solo exhibition in Europe of work by Naiza H. Khan, an acclaimed Pakistani artist who lives and works in Karachi and whose work has been exhibited to much acclaim there as well as in Dubai, Hong Kong, Islamabad, Mumbai and New York. The Skin She Wears will comprise some 15 recent sculptures and drawings and will take place at 16 Clifford Street, London W1, from 24 September to 25 October 2008.
For over a decade Naiza Khan has focused on a thematic meditation on the female body and she says that The Skin She Wears began as a strategy to explore the emotional content of the body through attire. Lingerie, chastity belts, straitjackets and other objects play the stage. The clothes locate the body more explicitly and what it confronts between personal and political spaces. They also create multiple identities or personae. The armour pieces began with drawings of lingerie and specifically a 'bullet-proof vest' that called to be made in metal rather than drawn. Over the last two years, objects have developed such as the 'armour-skirt' that is at the same time flirtatious and oppressive. These objects find a place between war and love, and are ambiguous in their position of aggression and seduction.
Among the first objects Naiza Khan made are two galvanised steel pieces, Armour-lingerie IV and Armour-lingerie V, both available in editions of three. Naiza says of these works: "I felt at that time (2007) it was important to consider the body through attire, but that the duality of it remained within the work somehow - part clothing, part body. Also, coincidentally, at this time (Feburary 2007), the issue of the Red Mosque (Lal Masjid) had flared up in Islamabad where we saw for the first time women in Hijab taking a very strident and aggressive role in protecting their religious beliefs. I wanted to create my own army in response to this social phenomenon."
Amongst the drawings, Armour I, 2007, charcoal on paper, is the first in a series of drawings that have developed as a tool for the artist's imagination. Naiza says: "I see these pieces of attire become more hybrid and illusionary as I draw them - something between real and fictitious - a sort of wardrobe that often reflects contradictory messages."
For over a decade Naiza Khan has focused on a thematic meditation on the female body and she says that The Skin She Wears began as a strategy to explore the emotional content of the body through attire. Lingerie, chastity belts, straitjackets and other objects play the stage. The clothes locate the body more explicitly and what it confronts between personal and political spaces. They also create multiple identities or personae. The armour pieces began with drawings of lingerie and specifically a 'bullet-proof vest' that called to be made in metal rather than drawn. Over the last two years, objects have developed such as the 'armour-skirt' that is at the same time flirtatious and oppressive. These objects find a place between war and love, and are ambiguous in their position of aggression and seduction.
Among the first objects Naiza Khan made are two galvanised steel pieces, Armour-lingerie IV and Armour-lingerie V, both available in editions of three. Naiza says of these works: "I felt at that time (2007) it was important to consider the body through attire, but that the duality of it remained within the work somehow - part clothing, part body. Also, coincidentally, at this time (Feburary 2007), the issue of the Red Mosque (Lal Masjid) had flared up in Islamabad where we saw for the first time women in Hijab taking a very strident and aggressive role in protecting their religious beliefs. I wanted to create my own army in response to this social phenomenon."
Amongst the drawings, Armour I, 2007, charcoal on paper, is the first in a series of drawings that have developed as a tool for the artist's imagination. Naiza says: "I see these pieces of attire become more hybrid and illusionary as I draw them - something between real and fictitious - a sort of wardrobe that often reflects contradictory messages."
