Event detail
Family Time
22. Aug - 12. Sep 08 / ended DEPARTUREFree, no bookings taken.
Film Screening of The Clay Bird (2002) starts at 7pm. Launch event.
Baha Mousa Reloaded
Family Time - Including film and video events.
Hamja Ahsan presents his debut solo exhibition at the Departure since graduating from Central Saint Martins this year. Entitled ‘Family Time’ the show is curated around the theme of experiencing time through the family body. Originating from a Bengali, Islamic migrant background, Ahsan explores how other cultural systems have different modes of indexing time – work/ leisure, rural/urban time, religious/secular time, waiting, decay and ageing. A number of works grow out of Ahsan’s experiences of visiting his brother in prison – who is being unjustly held indefinitely on recent draconian anti-terrorist legislation ‘The US Extradition treaty’. These works examine how passing time within a total institution can reflect on the construction of the ‘everyday’ life of the metropolis.
Ahsan’s practice encompasses the entire span of media: drawing, sound art, painting, appropriated text work, photography, performance, video, curation and critical writing.
Exhibition duration: 22nd August – 12th September 2008.
The Departure
649 Commercial Road
E14 7LW
1 minute walk from Limehouse DLR.
Opening hours: Tues-Fri (11am-9pm)
Sat (10am-5pm)
All events Free, no booking needed. Just turn up on the day.
Launch Event
Film Screening: The Clay Bird (2002)
Friday, 22nd August, 7pm
A beautiful, evocative film about a boy’s coming of age during the Liberation war of Bangladesh. In this setting a small family must come to grips with its culture, its faith, and the brutal political changes entering its small-town world. The film was shot almost entirely with non-professionals in local settings often using local sounds. The cinematography attempted to capture the seasons in rustic appeal and the festivals and holidays of Bangladesh. The film was choosen to tie in with themes and settings of my exhibition, much of which is shot in rural and urban Bengal.
Winner of the International Critics Prize at Cannes Film Festival, 2002.
Duration: 90 minutes
Film screening begins at 7pm
Offical Website
http://ctmasud.web.aplus.net/about/
A Video art/ Short film event will be also be held on 12th September to mark the closing of the exhibition including Hamja Ahsan’s video work and art documentaries on Bangladesh. 5pm-6.30pm.
http://www.hamjaahsan.com
User opinions
3 Opinions where posted
1
Excellent
by Sugarsnapper 30.08.08 9:42
A thought provoking exhibition by an exciting new artist. Don't miss it.
Report this opinion as offensive2
Explore Further...
by Syed Hamja Ahsan 03.09.08 16:31
Hamja has been made Arts and Islams artist of the month
www.artsandislam.com
Lovely place to sit and relax, good cafe and second hand bookstore.
Additional film screening programme is up and running...
http://www.artrabbit.com/events/event/7083/until_the_end_of_time_film_video_curated_by_hamja_ahsan
I have also produced a piece of writing for the screening of the Clay Bird. Contact me via my website should you be interested.
3
A great first show by a young British Bangladeshi artist of much promise!
by Stuart Currie 06.09.08 1:40
Hamja Ahsan's exhibition at Departure shows a keen artistic and cultural awareness. It is both intelligent and witty, Many of the photographic images included in the show reveal thoughtful individual reflections on life in Bangladesh. But personal observations of a deeper kind also surface on the walls of the East End's coolest art centre. Whether in the crusty monochrome canvases of wheelchairs and coffee-cup stains, or in a number of beautifully understated 'readymade' artefacts - some of a waspishly political nature - the works on show provide challenging insights into how elements of time are affecting certain Bangladeshi families - and ultimately all of us - as our clocks tick on and our days pass by. Come and listen to the unspoken messages of this intriguing exhibition - before it is too late!
