Schenberg Fellowship 2018
Bohrân
10:34 minutes, two channel video with sound
Bohrân is a 2-channel installation was displayed as part of 'Hatched' Emerging Artists 2018 with the Perth Institute of Contemporary Art.
Perth Institute of Contemporary Art
UWA School of Design graduate Elham Eshraghian has been awarded the 2018 Schenberg Art Fellowship, taking home a prize of $40,000. Elham’s work, Bohrân, is part documentary, part visual poetry that explores her mother’s persecution and escape from Iran as a result of the 1979 Revolution. It is a two-channel digital video which features choreographed dance sequences, text, archival footage and shadow-play.
This year the Schenberg Art Fellowship was judged by director of the Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts (PICA) Amy Barrett-Lennard, Ted Snell, chief cultural officer of UWA Cultural Precinct, and executive editor of Artlink magazine Eve Sullivan. In her artist’s statement, Eshraghian explained that she was inspired by her mother’s story of escape from persecution in Iran after the 1979 Revolution.
“The interplay between the two projections, which feature choreographed dance sequences, text, archival footage and shadow-play, reveals a confident and sophisticated use of her chosen medium and a sensitive and considered approach to difficult subject matter.” This year, PICA also initiated three Hatched Residencies which will allow each emerging artist six weeks in one of PICA’s studio spaces to develop their practices. In addition to Elham Eshraghian, residencies were awarded to Sacha Barker (University of Western Australia) and Kate Bohunnis (TAFE South Australia). Works by all 30 finalists, from 23 institutions nationwide, are on show in the Hatched National Graduate Show until 15 July.
"Most presciently, the work by Elham Eshraghian, Bohran, is a visually arresting piece. Eshraghian’s work is a two-channel digital video-installation, over large screens that take up a large portion of the gallery room in which it is situated. The scale of the piece is overwhelming; as Eshraghian states in the description accompanying her work, the viewer is caught in an “affective poetic space". The piece explores ideas of cultural identity, displacement, and conflict, particularly with regards to the Iranian heritage of the artist, and Eshraghian’s piece was a deserving winner of the $40,000 Schenberg fellowship. The fellowship, and the show itself, represents a major stepping stone in the career of a young artist.” - Karl Sagrabb
"I do not feel that I can write a holistic review of the show without mentioning one of its most dazzling pieces. Having typically low expectations from prize winners, I was surprised by the piece that won the Schenberg Art Fellowship. Elham Eshraghian’s Bohrân, exploring “Iranian diaspora” through video on larger than life-size screens, is uncomfortable and insidious – it confronts viewers, and was a deserved winner." - Stirling Kain, Pelican Magazine
Exhibitions include Potlock C3 Contemporary Art Gallery, The Brisbane Powerhouse & Tasmanian Institute of Architects Film Night, Hatched Exhibition Perth Insititute of Contemporary Arts, The Lock Up Gallery, Newcastle, Corridor Film Festival Indonesia.
full circle | The Lock Up
"AN EXHIBITION THAT CONSIDERS THE INHERITANCE OF FAMILY CULTURAL TRADITIONS AND HOW ARTISTS DELVE INTO THE PAST TO NAVIGATE THEIR FUTURE. The flows of migration across the globe, whether voluntary or not, has resulted in the intercultural contact of many different people. For those born into settler societies like Australia, with family originating from other countries, growing up in this dichotomy can be a confusing and conflicting period.
Transitioning from childhood to adulthood is usually compounded with cultural transitions as questions about identity come to the forefront of development. There may be a time in their lives where they choose to completely disassociate from their cultures due to embarrassment or insecurity. However, there is a noticeable pattern to be traced whereby as these individuals grow older, they reconsider their roots, identity, culture, and traditions. Responding to this year’s Critical Animals Creative Research Symposium theme of ‘Give and Take’ in a very literal context, this exhibition considers the inheritance of family cultural traditions and how artists delve into the past to navigate their futures." - Nanette Orly
"Perth artist Elham Eshraghian specialises in film and video installations. Her Australian Iranian-Bahá’í upbringing provides context as she highlights cultural identity and loss. Bohrân(2017) is part documentary, part visual poetry, and explores the story of Eshraghian’s own mother’s escape from Iran as a result of the 1979 Revolution. In cinematic scale the choreographed narrative, pixelated archival, and found footage communicate the relationship between the embodied personal experience of her family and the collective historical memory of the Iranian diaspora. She invites the viewer to generate a sense of empathetic understanding of people engulfed in turbulence across the globe. Eshraghian, through her practice, aims to reveal the importance of providing a platform to the diverse and alternative voices of the displaced, while also moving toward a collective unity. In combining personal narrative with shared perspectives of migratory experience, she ushers a gentle reminder that these themes surrounding cultural identity affect many others around the world, not just in Australia.[17] Simpson and Eshraghian are just two examples of an expansive number of Australian artists interested in migration, exploring their own stories of displacement, while others are using it as a political space to comment on and engage with contemporary debates.[18] With this vast pool of artistic practices that are directly responding to almost 50 percent of our cultural population, how is it that migration and/or migratory experiences are still being presented as add-on programming for mainstream cultural institutions?" - Nanette Orly, Issue 38: Spectacle SPECTACULAR OR SPECULATIVE? MIGRATORY EXPERIENCE IN CONTEMPORARY ART
Potluck | C3 Contemporary Art Space
Potluck is a group exhibition curated by Angie Hiscock, that incorporates emerging and established artists from inter-state Australia and overseas. Potluck facilitates discussion on the need to listen, understand, empathize and most importantly, collaborate with voices that respond to the ever-growing demand to build a cohesive society. Potluck adopts the perspective of mixed-cultural identities, contemporary religious voices and others who identify as migrants and/or refugee’s. The exhibition believes that such periphery perspectives only enrich conversations about building a new world and draw us closer to finding solutions in Australian society as a whole. Potluck was exhibited at C3 Contemporary Art Space in galleries three and six
