Yto Barrada Untitled (Ain’t Hard Favored) , 2021 Pigment print Image: 40.6 x 25.7 cm
Barrada considers the history of place through a reflection on water and land — land reshaped by water; sinking islands and cities at risk of disappearing — through the lens of children’s participation in the construction of the world, inspired by artist Simon Nicholson’s 1971 anti-elitist essay, “How NOT to Cheat Children: The Theory of Loose Parts.”
Salient to Barrada’s practice are concepts of pleasure, discovery and analysis, which are formulated through key works that experiment with materials (rust, cotton, natural dyes) and traditional processes. Her methodology is influenced by her background in history and political science. By using visual, textual and sculptural relics, the exhibition finds points of anchorage in historical narrative and aesthetic imagination and simultaneously condenses and stretches the frame of time.
