The sky is higher here

About

The sky is higher here 

Curated by Leila Seyedzadeh

Works by Hedwig Brouckaert, Simone Couto, Edi Dai, Saba Farhoudnia, Victoria Martinez, and Ingrid Tremblay

On view: February 19– March 27, 2022

Opening: Saturday, February 19, 2022, 1-6 pm

Transmitter is pleased to present The sky is higher here, a group exhibition curated by Leila Seyedzadeh, featuring works by Hedwig Brouckaert, Simone Couto, Edi Dai, Saba Farhoudnia, Victoria Martinez, and Ingrid Tremblay.

Why is it that all that blue refuses to be contained? It refuses to be shaped, measured, and revealed in all its dimensions. It is the panorama that we see from the Earth, the dome that we cannot reach, a ‘bowl’ flipped on top of our existence, yet occupying no space. By studying the Moon and the stars and by connecting our moods to the way it smiles or cries, we are still trying to make sense  of the sky that surrounds us. Despite the insurmountable distance between the Earth and the sky and its defiance to be understood, these artists search to make it accessible and deeply familiar. We know that only something as magnificent, shapeless, and borderless as the sky can hold the sum of all our heart’s grieves and hopes without ever pouring over. 

The Sky is higher here was born out of a collective search to dissolve the unseen boundaries between what is free of the physical and what is not. It is an attempt to mirror what we find in the sky and what it reveals in us. It is only ironic that we need to weave a thread between physical objects that manifest it and what it means to us. Through a variety of mediums such as painting, photography, textiles, mixed media, and more, each artist examines the vastness of the sky and finds refuge in this great space without borders. This collection explores time, location, displacement, memory, grief, hope, and identity. 

The sky is higher here

The sky is not blue in all places

There are mountains,

There are trees

There are no mountains,

There are trees

Yet the sky is higher here

The shadows follow me

The outlines around the objects

My imagination of the perception of the objects

A single sugar cube dissolved in the ocean

Tied to a familiar object in a suitcase

I have placed my hand on driftwood of memories

From the zenith to the nadir, from the abyss of the ocean to the apex of the sky

Towards which haven in this endless ocean?

“Here my heart is full of yearning and wistfulness

And every instrument whose sound I hear is inharmonious

Let’s pack our travel satchels

And head towards an endless journey

To see whether the sky is the same color in other places” *

Leila Seyedzadeh

*Mehdi Akhavān-Sāles