LAVERONICA

Maryam Jafri

Maryam Jafri lives and works in Copenhagen and New York.
For the past twenty years Maryam Jafri has worked across varied media including video, sculpture and photography, with a specific interest in questioning the cultural and visual representations of history and political economy and their impact on our quotidian experience. Her practice draws upon diverse traditions from literature and theater to pop and conceptual art. Her pointed, often darkly humorous works address issues including the latest mutations in identity-fueled capitalism such as personalization and the passion economy (Hi Maryam, 2021) to photo/text works focusing on the digitalization of historical images and the consequences for issues cultural memory and copyright law (Disappearance Online, 2021) to works examining wellness and precarity (Wellness Post-Industrial Complex, 2017) to sculptural installations focusing on the impact of graphic design, branding, and display on our everyday habits (Generic Corner, 2015, Product Recall: An Index of Innovation, 2014-2015).

Very often the research for one work leads to the starting point for another work in a different media, such as the sculptural installation Product Recall: An Index of Innovation (2014-2015) which grew out of initial research for her video Mouthfeel (2014). The two works stand independently of one another but also constitute a dialogue between themes, media, and approaches. Mouthfeel, in which she acts and directs, harnesses the language of soap operas to probe global consumer culture. Product Recall: An Index of Innovation combines objects, texts, and photographs of failed products in a dark, pop-infused exploration of postwar American consumer culture. Another recent work, Generic Corner (2015), focuses on another neglected aspect of American consumer culture – the once widespread, now mostly forgotten black and white generic items that graced supermarkets across the country in the late 1970s and 80s. Independence Day 1934-1975 (2009-ongoing) is fueled by her interest in questions of heritage and the archive, and the role of photography in the formation of national narratives during the process of decolonization in Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. Her works often bring together both found and original material, whether in installation or moving image formats. In her video Avalon (2011) staged scenes were combined with documentary footage to offer a meditation on the links between affect, labor, and commodity under contemporary global conditions.

Above all her interdisciplinary art practice is grounded in an engagement with the formal and conceptual qualities of each media, periods of extensive research and planning, and the mysterious but crucial role played by forces that lie outside deliberation and preparation such as accident, chance, and intuition.

Notable solo exhibitions include Van Abbemuseum (Eindhoven), Tabakalera (San Sebastian), Kunsthalle Basel, Betonsalon (Paris), Gasworks (London) and an upcoming solo show at Contemporary Art Gallery of Vancouver. Recent and upcoming biennials include Front International (Cleveland Triennial), Sao Paolo Biennial, Venice Biennial (Belgian Pavilion), Manifesta 9, Shanghai, Taipei, Bucharest, Thessaloniki, and Quebec City Biennials among others. Recent group exhibitions include “Fassbinder & Contemporary Video Art” at Martin Gropius Bau, “Past is Present: Murals” at Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, and “Meepting Points 9” at Beirut Art Center. Her work has been reviewed in Art Forum, Frieze, Mousse, Camera Austria, Art Papers, Texte Zur Kunst, Kunstforum, and elsewhere.

Email Chain in my Brain, Public Domain is my Name

Email Chain in my Brain, Public Domain is my Name, 2021

UV-print on aluminum, metal rod 90 cm, c-hooks, Wall space needed: 105 x 100 cm + floor space, each plate is 32.5 x 32.5 cm

Home Office ft. Angola, Iraq, Vietnam, Vicodin

Home Office ft. Angola, Iraq, Vietnam, Vicodin, 2021

iMac, computer table, office chair, pharmaceutically-branded office supplies, 14 min looped video + sound

The Everyday Model

The Everyday Model, 2021

2 framed images (24,5 x 25,5; 25 x 48,5 cm) and 1 framed text panel 29 x 14,2 cm

The Everyday Model

The Everyday Model, 2021

1 framed image 24,8 x 53 cm and 1 framed text panel 19 x 14,2 cm

The Everyday Model

The Everyday Model, 2021

1 framed images
42,5 × 31 cm

Depression

Depression, 2017

wood, silicone feet, acupuncture needles, glass cupping equipment, photograph mounted on aluminium, egg carton, ambiental dimension - ambiental dimension

Muslim Buddha

Muslim Buddha, 2017

wood, plush Buddha doll, apple computer screen cleaning cloth, acupuncture needles, crumpled up newspapers

Where We ́re At

Where We ́re At, 2017

wooden grid, books, vinyl, paper handout
485 × 254 cm

Generic corner

Generic corner, 2015

photographs, text panel, plinths, objects; installation dimensions variable

Product Recall: An Index of Innovation. Gerber

Product Recall: An Index of Innovation. Gerber, 2015

framed texts, photographs, objects

Product Recall: An Index of Innovation. I Hate

Product Recall: An Index of Innovation. I Hate, 2015

framed texts, photographs, objects

Mouthfeel

Mouthfeel, 2014

2k HD film, color, sound
21‘34‘‘

Product Recall: An Index of Innovation. Fact

Product Recall: An Index of Innovation. Fact, 2014-2015

framed texts, photographs, objects

Product Recall: An Index of Innovation. PJ Squares

Product Recall: An Index of Innovation. PJ Squares, 2014-2015

framed texts, photographs, objects

Product Recall: An Index of Innovation. Spalding

Product Recall: An Index of Innovation. Spalding, 2014-2015

framed texts, photographs, objects

Global Slum. Hospitals

Global Slum. Hospitals, 2012

ink jet prints on Epson Archival Matte Paper 189 greach grid has 8 photographs + 1 text
110 × 80 cm

Global Slum. Prisons

Global Slum. Prisons, 2012

ink jet prints on Epson Archival Matte Paper 189 greach grid has 8 photographs + 1 text
110 × 80 cm

Global Slum. School

Global Slum. School, 2012

ink jet prints on Epson Archival Matte Paper 189 greach grid has 8 photographs + 1 text
110 × 80 cm

Versus series: Getty vs. Ghana

Versus series: Getty vs. Ghana, 2012-2015

Mixed media; 8 photographs + 4 framed texts

Versus series: Getty vs. Musée royal de l’Afrique Centrale vs. DR Congo

Versus series: Getty vs. Musée royal de l’Afrique Centrale vs. DR Congo, 2012-2015

Mixed media; 2 photographs + 1 framed text

Avalon

Avalon, 2011

HD film, color, sound
11‘44‘‘

Death With Friends

Death With Friends, 2010

single channel video, HD film, color, sound
9‘23‘‘

Independence Day 1934-1975

Independence Day 1934-1975, 2009-...

54 + black & white photos, each photo approximately about A5 size (14.8 x 21 cm), archival inkjet prints

Nogales

Nogales, 2008

Lightbox, audio track, 3‘ 25‘‘
108 × 70 × 6 cm

Siege of Khartoum, 1884. Freedom for the Arabs The Times (UK), 1917

Siege of Khartoum, 1884. Freedom for the Arabs The Times (UK), 1917, 2006

27 A1 size (23.4 x 33.1 inches) photo-collage posters, archival ink-jet on Hahnemuehle paper

Siege of Khartoum, 1884. Iran’s Nuclear Lies, Newsweek, 2005

Siege of Khartoum, 1884. Iran’s Nuclear Lies, Newsweek, 2005, 2006

27 A1 size (23.4 x 33.1 inches) photo-collage posters, archival ink-jet on Hahnemuehle paper

Siege of Khartoum, 1884. Public Opinion-Panamanians Strongly Back US Move, New York Times, 1990

Siege of Khartoum, 1884. Public Opinion-Panamanians Strongly Back US Move, New York Times, 1990, 2006

27 A1 size (23.4 x 33.1 inches) photo-collage posters, archival ink-jet on Hahnemuehle paper

Siege of Khartoum, 1884. The General Goes To Court, New York Times, 1990

Siege of Khartoum, 1884. The General Goes To Court, New York Times, 1990, 2006

27 A1 size (23.4 x 33.1 inches) photo-collage posters, archival ink-jet on Hahnemuehle paper

Siege of Khartoum, 1884. US Encouraged By Vietnam Vote, New York Times, 1967

Siege of Khartoum, 1884. US Encouraged By Vietnam Vote, New York Times, 1967, 2006

27 A1 size (23.4 x 33.1 inches) photo-collage posters, archival ink-jet on Hahnemuehle paper

(title)

(title), 2006

27 A1 size (23.4 x 33.1 inches) photo-collage posters, archival ink-jet on Hahnemuehle paper