assignment 2 - Muqqadimah, Sylvat Aziz

 Muqqadimah is a word with roots in Arabic that has multiple meanings: a preface, an introduction, a court case, a thesis, an examination, and a treatise or investigation. It describes my intention to juxtapose the weight of history with contemporary reality in the experience of Middle eastern/Muslim/immigrant/female displaced sensibility. and to reveal the various layers of historical, social, political, and aesthetic consciousness in the distance a woman has travelled. - Sylvat Aziz

Sylvat Aziz is a female middle eastern Muslim immigrant who came to Canada. Her works highlight her political beliefs in a way that makes and informed two way exchange between the artist and the viewer, planting the seeds to help the viewer grow but not making the answer clear allowing the viewer to question their political knowledge. She investigates concepts, beliefs and assumptions of a culture looking at itself.

Painting #3, 1996, oil on canvas, 225x180 cm

Painting #11, 1996, oil on canvas, 239x157 cm

Painting #1, 1996, oil on canvas, 177x225 cm

how will my body absorb this incredible bird, because i begin to see that, as i sit with these images, my body speaks through them, and the words follow. (7)

Painting #4, 1996, oil on canvas, 192x244 cm

a land of slow asphyxiation