EFFLORESCENCE SERIES
2013-ongoing
Installation at Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge University (2019), as part of the exhibition Homelands: Art from Bangladesh, India and Pakistan
Installation at John Hartell Gallery, Cornell University (2015)
Installation at Sharjah Biennial 15 (2023)
Installation at Museum Van Loon, Amsterdam (2024)
Neon, bulbs, aluminum, mixed media
Each 48 x 48 x 6 inch
Titles: Bosanki Ljiljan, Cocoxochitl, Karkadé, Kerubut, Laleh, Mokran, Padma, Shapla, Seamróg, Shaqa'iq an-numan, Zahrat al-ughuwan
Note:
Bosanki Ljiljan – golden lily [Bosnia]
Cocoxochitl - dahlia [Mexico]
Karkadé - hibiscus [Sudan]
Kerubut - corpse lily [Indonesia]
Laleh - tulip [Afghanistan]
Mokran - magnolia [North Korea]
Padma - lotus [India]
Shapla - water lily [Bangladesh]
Shaqa'iq an-numan - poppy [Palestine]
Zahrat al-ughuwan – daisy [Eritrea]
azadi-e nasim mubarak kih har taraf
tute pare hain halqah-e dam-e hava-e gul
Celebrate the breeze's freedom: everywhere lie broken
Meshes of the flower’s net of desire.
- Ghalib
The nation-state forms the most important and universally recognized form of sovereignty in the world today. However, as Benedict Anderson had recognized, imagination plays a central role in how individuals cognize the nation. Nation-states ascribe various forms of pageantry exclusive to themselves in order to express their singularity. Among other emblems, flowers have also become specific national symbols, even though they grow over a wide geographic range, and can truly be characterized as "contested botanicals."
Efflorescence denotes radiance, the blooming of a flower, and the flowering of civilization, but also bears negative valences such as discoloration. This doubled sense of the word provides an apt title for this series of large-scale illuminated sculptures of the national flowers of contested regions. Inspired by popular commercial signage, the works jump scale in their materiality and dimension: their industrial artifice acknowledges the manner in which delicate natural forms are deployed as fixed emblems to vindicate intangible claims of identity.