Alinah Azadeh

I visited an exhibition at the Bristol Museum and Art Gallery that inspired me, so I thought I would share it with you. I loved the whole exhibition but found myself really drawn to the work of Alinah Azadeh. 'The Gifts' was a contemporay installation that used objects donated by people. The idea was people donated 99 items that, "had outlived their emotional shelf-life". These were all wrapped in very vibrant coloured fabrics and Sari yarn and suspended from the ceiling on invisible wire in a wave pattern. On the wall beside was messages written by the people who donated them about the object and why they had donated it. There were fabulous items like a childs umbilical cord clamp, a book give to a child from a mother who had abandoned her. Some items were fun but most were very poinient.

Even if you didn't look at the labels, the piece was so beautiiful, it was like a living vibrant wave. Anyone who likes textiles will love it. When I first saw it I hadn't realised that the Artist own mother had been killed in the Asian Tsunami, but even without that knowledge, the shape definatley felt like a huge engulfing wave, it was very comforting in colour and style. There is a numerological and religious significance to the number 99. But the work could completeley be enjoyed with absolutley no knowledge of the contextual significances. I always like to look at a piece before I read any guides to get a completeley fresh perspective and my overall emotion when seeing it was joy, it made me smile and then later made me think.

I really suggest that anyone who is in Bristol before the 18th of April should take a look.

You can dowload and exhibition guide here