Laila Tara H at Cooke Latham Gallery
Closing 19 July
The ever-concerning presence of surveillance in our daily lives may not be pondered as much as it should be by some, but that doesn't mean to say that every time we step out of the house a thought isn't lent to questioning 'who is watching, and from where?' Expanding on these notions is Iranian artist and painter Laila Tara H who's latest exhibition at Cooke Latham Gallery reflects on the artist's personal histories while also laying bare ideas, thoughts and narratives that transcend cultural boundaries to pervade everyone's everyday.
Known for creating work that deconstructs the aesthetic framework of the Persian miniature tradition, Tara H's show revolves around the idea of simulating an everyday experience that guides the viewer from dawn until dusk, essentially serving as somewhat of a mirror to our contemporary human experience - thoughts that ruminate when we leave the house and come home, thoughts that are just as thorough in the morning as they are at night. In a statement to press, the artist noted: 'We exit our homes and come to face the uncontrollable. In times of comfort, this itself adds to the softness...In times of discomfort, it is an invasion. A parent removing the lock on your door'. Tara H's soft yet alarming use of painted imagery also adds an eerie quality to the exhibition, one not so obvious per se, but impossible to ignored once noticed.
