Curated by the Mathqaf collective, established in 2020 by Wadha Al-Aqeedi and Elina Sairanen, in collaboration with the gallery, the exhibition "Despite the Distance, We Remain Destined", questions our relationship to desire – our personal desires, those we hold for others, as well as for the Other in their otherness – and the enigma it encompasses.
Except for Anhar Salem, who has chosen the medium of video, all the artists have embraced painting to convey this emotion that is unsettling and often met with strong resistance. The paintings on display all portray women in their own privacy, sisterhood, and nudity. Her Angel Eyes Saw the Good in Many Devils by Mays Almoosawl is a large-format full-scale canvas, featuring a profiled female figure who appears to turn toward us, as if catching us in an unintentional act of voyeurism.
Left: Mays Almoosawi (b. 1994, Muscat) Her Angel Eyes Saw the Good in Many Devils, 2023. Acrylic on canvas. Courtesy of the Artist and Emergeast. Right : Installation view of 'Despite the Distance, We Remain Destined' exhibition at Galerie La La Lande in Paris. Courtesy of Galerie La La Lande. Photo: Lionel Roche.
Other artworks engage with the concept of an “Other” or the alter ego of the painted model, deepening the exploration of the enigmatic nature of desire that often renders us unfamiliar to our own selves (for example Influenced by Her Desire by Dora Dalila Cheffi).
Dora Dalila Cheffi (b. 1990, Helsinki) Influenced by Her Desire, 2023 Oil on canvas.Courtesy of the Artist.
These unveiled intimacies question the human relationships shared between friendship, love, and solitude. The young women in Bayan Kiwan's paintings are captured in the ephemeral of a carefree moment, shared or imagined, like Elham Etemadi's Rêves en fusion (Dreams in Fusion).
Elham Etemadi (b. 1983, Shiraz) Rêves en Fusion, 2023 Oil on canvas. Courtesy of the Artist.
The exhibition deserves recognition for presenting talented emerging artists with an international background from the WANA (West Asia North Africa) scene, which remains relatively unknown in France. This is made possible through the dedicated efforts of the Mathqaf collective in their roles as curators, publishers, and academics.
"Despite the Distance, We Remain Destined" by Mathqaf in collaboration with the La La Lande gallery, until the 7th of October 2023.
Cover image: Installation view of 'Despite the Distance, We Remain Destined' exhibition at Galerie La La Lande in Paris. Courtesy of Galerie La La Lande. Photo: Lionel Roche.
