Peripheral Vision | Oil and Wax on Canvas | 110cm x 150cm | POA
Farouk Haidari | Oil and Wax on Canvas | 110cm x 150cm | POA
Farouk Haidari II | Oil and Wax on Canvas | 110cm x 140cm | Private Collection
Amini | Oil and Wax on Canvas | 110cm x 140cm | POA
Mehdi Kavousi | 110cm x 140cm | Oil and Wax on Canvas | Private Collection
Amini Sketch | Oil on paper | 110cm x 140cm | POA
Farouk Haidari| Oil on Paper | 110cm x 140cm | POA
Peripheral Vision | Oil on Paper | 110cm x 140cm | POA
Mehidi Amini | Oil on Paper | 110cm x 140cm | POA
Peripheral Vision Statement.
By Laura Havenhand
I paint large-scale portraits made out of representative imagery depicting socially excluded individuals in our society. The individuals represent systematically dehumanised minorities that have been reduced to bare lives (bodies) living outside the main political body, therefore silenced, ignored and misrepresented. This has led to the commodification of these individual’s inherent to social alienation and exclusion, often this mistreatment leads to the trafficking and exploitation of entire families through their lack of rights. I represent these people to reflect their humanity and expose the reality behind mass-produced and commonly accepted perceptions of citizens within our culture.
The paintings are made by repeatedly layering semi transparent stencils of a man in order to reveal the portrait and identity of an individual excluded from society whose story is eluded from the mass media and therefore the mass populous. I use the expression on the face to emulate their feelings and substantiate their existence, allowing the viewer to identify and relate to the person instead of the stereotype.
The scale of the canvases is an historical signifier, of those with power. Traditionally a large-scale portrait was a luxury for the elite and put them on a pedestal. The scale of the paintings is to empower, and symbolically elevate these individuals, to represent them as human and part of the body of society. I wanted the viewer to relate to the person, to recognise the pain in the painting. The scale of the paintings was to create an intimacy between the viewer and subject, to re - humanise the individual, to make the viewer uncomfortable and consumed by the imagery so they would relate and react.
The stencils reflect a juxtaposition of ideas. It was important for me that everything about each work was sensitive and indicative of the meaning and influences; so for example, the mark of the paintbrush had to something that could be read. The ‘men’ reflect the repetitive and ignorant portrayal of minorities in society by the mass media, through its elucidation of the truth to make an interesting and instantly gratifiable story for the mass populace. The ‘men’ also represent the populace that make up the cultural body and chooses to exclude these individuals, whilst also paralleled with those that are excluded; the asylum seekers left destitute without an identity and silenced. These stencils are deliberately subtle so the symbolic references are searched for, to elude those who want to be, and present them with a reality that they chose not to see.
