KAYAKALAK PANEL FOUR ( BIENNALE DI VENEZIA COLLECTION ) , 2022
Further images
Taking his cue from Aligheri e Boetti’s work with Afghan women weavers, Firouz’s approach to traditional crafts is tempered by a strong spirituality and conceptual investigations. Inspired by visionaries such as South-Korean installation artist Kimsooja, his practice extends links to the philosophies of Joseph Campbell, Darius Shayegân and Edouard Glissant. Concepts present in his Ecology of Soul and Postribal series indicate a dynamic where archaic thought processes enter a conceptual-spiritual transformation, eschewing the post-industrial ‘isms’ of negativity, materiality and depression.
The artist draws inspiration from his ‘nomadic displacement’, the result of early exile in his childhood following the Iranian Islamic revolution in 1979. This led him to investigate his clan’s tribal past - and the hereditary ties linking him to central Asia, Kyrgyz culture and to the myths and epics related to the idea of Turan. In 2021, FarmanFarmaian traveled to Kyrgyzstan to research current day crafts practices inspired by the Kyrgyz national epic, the Manas. Venturing into the remote highland regions of YSSIK KOL and NARYN, his immersions within the tribal and nomadic cultures resulted in a collaboration with the local craftswomen and the creation of textile based installations through a multiplicity of elements including raw yak wool, felt, Kyrgyz yurt structures and locally sourced pigments. ‘Gates of Turan’ is the result of this collaboration.
In the ten piece KAYAKALAK panel installation, nomadic tapestries are placed to hang as imaginary tribal banners - nomadic traditional felt making techniques are here reinvented to serve the idea of a lost mythical Unitarian mandala, traveling through hand sewn designs of the ‘Oïmo’, a mythical visual vocabulary revisited by the artist and produced in collaboration with the Kyrgyz craftswomen. These myths are closely connected to the Manas, and as such the banners symbolize the allied tribes of the warrior-hero Manas as he fought for freedom and independence
Provenance
Produced in KYRGYZSTAN, KOSHKOR, NARYN VALLEY. in collaboration with ALTYN KOL women led NGO
Exhibitions
59TH BIENNALE DI VENEZIA - KYRGYZ PAVILION 04-22/ 11-22
Publications

- Tumblr
-
KAYAKALAK PANEL EIGHT ( BIENNALE DI VENEZIA COLLECTION ) , 2022Sold€ 32,400.00
-
KAYAKALAK PANEL THREE ( PETITE COLLECTION ), 2022€15,000.00%3Cspan%20class%3D%22title%22%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22title%22%3EKAYAKALAK%20PANEL%20THREE%20%28%20%20PETITE%20%20COLLECTION%20%29%3Cspan%20class%3D%22title_comma%22%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3E%3C/span%3E%3C/span%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22year%22%3E2022%3C/span%3E%3C/span%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22price%22%3E%E2%82%AC15%2C000.00%3C/span%3E
-
KAYAKALAK PANEL ONE ( BIENNALE DI VENEZIA COLLECTION ) , 2022 Reserved%3Cspan%20class%3D%22title%22%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22title%22%3EKAYAKALAK%20PANEL%20ONE%20%28%20BIENNALE%20DI%20VENEZIA%20COLLECTION%20%29%20%3Cspan%20class%3D%22title_comma%22%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3E%3C/span%3E%3C/span%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22year%22%3E2022%3C/span%3E%3C/span%3E
-
KAYAKALAK PANEL FOUR ( BIENNALE DI VENEZIA COLLECTION ) , 2022 Reserved%3Cspan%20class%3D%22title%22%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22title%22%3EKAYAKALAK%20PANEL%20FOUR%20%28%20BIENNALE%20DI%20VENEZIA%20COLLECTION%20%29%20%3Cspan%20class%3D%22title_comma%22%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3E%3C/span%3E%3C/span%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22year%22%3E2022%3C/span%3E%3C/span%3E
-
KAYAKALAK PANEL THREE ( PETITE COLLECTION ), 2022 Sold%3Cspan%20class%3D%22title%22%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22title%22%3EKAYAKALAK%20PANEL%20THREE%20%28%20%20PETITE%20%20COLLECTION%20%29%3Cspan%20class%3D%22title_comma%22%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3E%3C/span%3E%3C/span%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22year%22%3E2022%3C/span%3E%3C/span%3E