Exhibition: Hayv Kahraman | Gut Feelings

The Mosaic Rooms presents Gut Feelings, a solo exhibition of paintings and mixed media works by Hayv Kahraman. In this new work, the artist delves into scientific research to situate the effects of trauma in the body and to investigate methodologies of physical healing and care. Developing from Kahraman’s ongoing exploration of embodied experiences of ‘Otherness’, the gut acts as a formal and material trope to investigate ideas of trauma and renewal.

In this new series of paintings and drawings twisted and knotted intestine-like cords seem to engulf the female figures. Organ-like labyrinths allude to a complex web of interconnectivity, reminiscent of neurological transmitters, simultaneously entrapping and emancipating the female figures entangled within them. These repeatedly explored imageries are painted on linen canvasses, paper and on handmade flax fabric, a new material for the artist. Kahraman began deconstructing the linen that she paints on, exploring how the flax fibres, before being woven and spun into linen, are harvested by bacteria in the soil. These works give an intimate insight into how Kahraman’s wide-ranging research informs her practice and her experimentation with processes and form.

About Hayv Kahraman
Hayv Kahraman is an Iraqi artist based in Los Angeles whose figurative paintings examine the gendered and racialized body politics of migrant consciousness. Her work is a reflection on Otherness as a form of dehumanisation, focusing on the gap between the immigrant, non-white, genderly marked other and the way they are perceived by the white hetero-patriarchal normative same. Her work has been exhibited at ICA Boston, Boston (2020); Henry Art Gallery, Seattle (2020); De La Warr Pavilion, United Kingdom (2019); Nottingham Contemporary, United Kingdom (2019); Benton Museum of Art at Pomona College, Claremont (2018); Contemporary Art Museum (CAM) St. Louis, St. Louis (2017); Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha (2017); Rubell Museum, Miami (2016); Cantor Arts Center, Stanford (2013) and the Sharjah Biennial, United Arab Emirates (2009). Forthcoming shows include: The Touch of Otherness, The Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD), Savannah (2022) and ICA San Francisco, San Francisco (2023).