Gray , 2023
Wood, tape
165 cm x 65 cm x 65 cm
Born in Iran, Parisa Pourkhatibi moved to Australia in 2010 and now lives and works in Sydney on Gadigal land. Her practice is affected by the contrast between the experience of social constraint in Iran and freedom in Australia. Her work explores the contrasting cultures, adaption, and confusion. She believes highly detailed Iranian art always has been a way to speak indirectly, to handle and survive the difficult time. Parisa says,
“For me, making is an urge to bring chaos to order. Creating is a way of transforming the absurdity of the external world into my work where I can understand, control and change. I claim my irrational thought and pure individuality as the most rational way for creating.”
She considers her practise to be a series of repetitive tasks or strange performances that are enacted simply for their own sake. This involves actions of wrapping readymade objects with thread or tape. Patterns are repetitive, diverse black and white stripes. The act of wrapping is covering, either to hide or to treat. The work develops slowly with its own internal logic and is open to interpretation. Her approach avoids fixed meaning and aims to create an expanded environment that is generative and self-replicating.
