Rashid Rana

As the Asia Triennial was going on in Manchester I thought it would be good to go have a look at some of the exhibitions. So I went along to the Corner House knowing nothing about the artist featured or what to expect and to be honest I wasn’t very excited. Rashid Rana was the name of the artist and he uses photography as the main medium of his work, the exhibition name was 'Everything Happens at Once' and the majority of the exhibition was huge collages of small images creating a larger image or pattern. The images mostly relate to his culture in Pakistan and I enjoyed looking at places and images I have never seen before. This could be a technique that I could use within future work to excite and please my audience.

One image in particular that stood out the most to me was a collaged image of 5 ladies in Burkas. The really interesting thing about this image is, as you got closer you realised that it was made up of tiny pornographic images creating a huge contrast of cultures and belief, which gives an extra dimension to the piece. I really wasn’t expecting this and I think that is why I enjoyed it the most. As I am currently obsessed with narrative and the meaning behind an artist, director and animators decisions this image really excited me and as I seem to have been only paying attention to moving image pieces I completely missed that still imagery can also have the same affect.

This affect of portraying a simple visual that means something much deeper and possibly very personal really relates to my boat animation and how my audience and I perceive it, as it is open to interpretation. As Rashid Rana's image could have so many meanings and reactions it is very personal to the artist and viewer as they will have their own take on the work.

http://www.asiatriennialmanchester.com/