Portfolio

2021- Memory Gates

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2019 – Seeing Through Babel, Ismaili Center, London.

In the Old Testament story of Babel, mankind is punished for attempting to reach heaven by constructing a tower.  According to the story, God created languages to divide mankind and scattered them across the face of the world to prevent them from ever collaborating in this manner again.

In Seeing Through Babel the Syrian-Armenian artist Kevork Mourad explores the story of Babel, using visual imagery to connect people across the language divide.  While language often defines and separates people, imagery is a universal that connects people in the past and today.  His work was created in-situ in the space, using a monotype technique in addition to direct drawing onto the surface of the work.

Seeing Through Babel is produced by the Ismaili Centre in partnership with the Aga Khan Museum, Toronto.

Text by Henry Kim, Former director and CEO of the Aga Khan Museum

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2019 – The Memories of Stone, Aga Khan Museum, Toronto.

Al-Andalus, which in the medieval era was a place of scientific and cultural exchange between Muslim and Christian societies, inspired this piece. In creating this huge work, I was hoping to draw viewers into a space in which they experience shared memories (of a past place whose history belongs to many cultures today), and their interpretation of the work comes consciously from relating it to a known history. But even more interesting to me is the idea of how the viewers gathered into the work are bringing each of their own narratives to the space. As humans we ascribe narrative to everything we see, so when we see a stone worn down by the elements, each of us has a story for how that stone came to look as it is. It is the threading of so many personal narratives and interpretations of the work within one space that fascinates me. 

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2018 –Time Immemorial

Through this piece, made up of three cut-out layers of drawing on muslin (2.40 x 6.00 meters), I am exploring the complexity of living in a place of many faiths, of many cultures. I’ve always been drawn to the beauty of diversity, but there is also the challenge of keeping one’s cultural identity in the midst of many. I’ve always felt the importance of staying connected to my roots while belonging to my surroundings, finding my voice while listening to those around me. And while exploring the wealth of the place I am in, I am always looking into what came before. To discover the many layers that make up a society, it is necessary to travel into its past; a place has as many histories as there are voices to tell it.

Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris

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2018 – Immortal City

Immortal City responds to the ongoing devastation in Syria, in which over 500,000 people have died, more than 6.5 million people have been displaced, and untold destruction has been visited upon the country’s rich cultural heritage. Alluding to calligraphy, textile and the ancient architecture of Palmyra, Bosra and Aleppo, here I engage with the historical fabric of my homeland with the hope of suggesting a life force that both survives and transcends its ruination.

https://www.brandeis.edu/rose/exhibitions/2017/immortal-city.html

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