LATE BY MYSELF | HANGAMA AMIRI

Representative of the post-war Afghan generation, Hangama Amiri places the theme of migration—understood as a clash and encounter of experiences and cultures—at the center of her practice. A migration she has personally experienced, which has driven her to aim, through the tools offered by artistic research, to maintain a high level of awareness about the social condition in Afghanistan by representing the experiences and stories of friends and family.
Amiri particularly amplifies and valorizes the voices of women, offering them a space within the international art community. She specifically uses textiles as both tools and mediums for creating her artworks.

Late By Myself is part of a recent cycle of works dedicated to the theme of home. ‘Home’ became a central subject during the pandemic, leading Amiri to explore this dimension and its symbolic significance. For Amiri, ‘home’ embodies memory, feelings, and recollections. The domestic space ‘opens up’ and is meant to be perceived not as a place of isolation but as one where affections and objects are safeguarded. With whom does she share the glass of wine or the fruit? Are they friends or family, nearby or far away?
Amiri left Afghanistan for Canada at the age of seven. Her life and, consequently, her development bear the marks of this painful yet identity-shaping event. Bridging the distance between her origins, her culture, and her present experiences is an individual exercise that she offers as a tool, a means for others. Similarly, the dining table depicted by Amiri—which, in its title, includes a reference to the work of a fundamental 13th-century Afghan poet—serves as an invitation to undertake an inner journey of openness and discovery, rather than isolation.

Hangama Amiri
Late By Myself, 2021
Chiffon, muslin, cotton, polyester, silk, suede, and color pencil, 233.68 x 200.66 cm (92″ x 79″)
Courtesy of the Artist and Cooper Cole

21/12/24