NINA "BEASTS OF NO NATION"
Nina Ghafari (IR/NO) "Beasts of No Nation"
Filmed on location by MZM Projects for Nuart Festival
Photography by Brian Tallman.
Nina Ghafari - a Stavanger based Iranian artist who works across many mediums including painting and street poetry. Her work directly challenges many of the established art world tropes and aims to reinvigorate the conversation about autonomous art practice through electrically charged paintings, objects and performances. "Another Place/Figure for Landscape" 2018 In 1997 British sculptor Anthony Gormley graced Sola Beach with his installation "Another Place", a series of cast "iron men" poignantly looking out to sea. It's removal in 1999 caused some controversy, but not nearly as much as that which the sale of the city's Barbara Hepworth sculpture, Figure for Landscape, would cause some years later, the repercussions of which are still being felt in the city’s previously tight knit art community. For this years Nuart Festival, Stavanger based Iranian artist Nina Ghafari tackles these subjects head on with her own "Another Place & Figure for Landscape" re-contextualised for 2018. This time the figures have darker skin, come from the sea and are facing inwards. If this sounds foreboding to some, take a closer look, in spite of their journey, and branded as "beasts of no nation", they are filled with hope and dreams of freedom. The work offers a powerful commentary on the plight of refugees, the displaced and those existing between cultures or on the margins of society. Will they, like the Gormley's and Hepworth's before them, be removed, or will they find a more permanent home in city.
Watch the film to find out.
