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PP
by SHIKYBA

Shikyba Azizi’s work continually draws upon her experiences and memories of life and events during her upbringing in Afghanistan. The series ‘PP’ challenges the viewer to consider the terror in the daily lives of those living in an unstable state, under Mujahedeen control. PP began as ‘an experiment in technicality,’ which has developed into a set of around 100 pieces using ink on blackout lining, created over a six month period. The image on each canvas is deceptively beautiful: delicate marks, made with ink, acrylics and string, forming gentle waves in which can also be read more sinister imagery. On one canvas, one viewer may see an undulating form; another will identify in the marks, the portrait of a woman wearing a pleated chadri (embroidered Afghan veil); while another might pick out the spray of blood from the neck of the latest victim of the sort of violence Azizi sometimes witnessed in her homeland. The art is political without intention – Azizi did not paint these works with the aim of expressing her opinions about the past or present politics of Afghanistan, but rather, the basis of this work is her feelings of what it has been like to live in that situation and the contrast with her life today the UK. Note: PP stand for Political Penis. The series created between 2010 and 2011, used Indian ink on blackout lining by a string. This piece of painting is a double sided and should be hang to see the both sides and the size of the work is 75x57”.