Academically trained painter Helena Tahir develops the content of her artwork during the creative process. After concluding a drawing, she begins ascribing meaning to each individual part, developing it further with other pieces in the series. In this way, she creates a whole that functions as equal to the individual parts, placing the visual experience of the graphics ahead of direct narration. At the same time, she offers insight into the dynamic and playful field of the possibilities of the graphic medium.
Helena Tahir takes advantage of the creative process to build content. Unburdened by concept, she seeks the breadth offered by each medium, whether she is making a graphic or coloured drawing. The cacophony of objects and figures offers the viewer an independent experience and attribution of the meaning that is closest to him. The artist offers the possibility for getting to know one’s own self through observing the pieces and their motifs.
Her artwork is characterised by precision in the realistic depiction of content. The figures, placed in chaotic non-space, are surrounded by objects that could carry many symbolic meanings, yet appear randomly and without any predetermined pattern. Despite the open content, we can discern the images of contemporary man, bound in the patterns of his everyday life and the irrational society that pushed him forward on one hand and backward on the other.
The open-ended interpretation of the pieces does not enable just the recognition of the patterns that are close to us, but also a journey down the path of getting to know one’s own self. Artwork reflects the condition of society and the environment of its time, with some offering this reflection for the viewer’s deliberation more explicitly.
Helena Tahir (1992) is a post-graduate student of Painting at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design (ALUO) in Ljubljana. In 2015, she participated in a study exchange at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Porto, graduating with honours from the Department of Painting and Printmaking at ALUO in September that same year. She is interested in various media – graphic arts, painting, drawing and photography. In late May 2016, she became the first resident of the Open Studio at the DobraVaga Gallery, where she was later also featured independently as part of the Artist Per Month programme. She has participated in a number of group and solo exhibitions, both local and international: Transformation of Image at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Zagreb, SlovenIndia at the National Gallery of Modern Art in New Delhi, Zum Zoom Zoum at the GapGap Gallery in Leipzig, Papirologija at the Equrna Gallery, the 6TH INDEPENDENT BIENNIAL at Kino Šiška, Something Ending, Something Beginning at Ravnikar Gallery Space, and the V vrtincu solo exhibition at the Božidar Jakac Art Museum in Kostanjevica na Krki.
The Solo Exhibition Cycle is a series of exhibition projects in the Kamera Gallery in the upper lobby of Kino Šiška, prepared each year by a curator of the younger generation.
Curated by: Tia Čiček.
Organisation: Kino Šiška.
