Tahir Carl Karmali

Paradise #6, 2019

Unique Artwork

CM H 167.64 W 99

IN H 66 W 38.98

Signed by artist

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About the work

Paradise #6, 2019

Karmali’s practice focuses on the transformation of objects and materials by global economic flows. He draws on his observations of these, as well as his own physical experience of moving through international borders and cultural spheres. Paradise (his new body of work) is a new and on-going body of work in which Karmali engages with time and memory and his experience of migration.

Combining screen-printing and dyeing techniques, Karmali creates atmospheric compositions built up from personal photographs, which evoke the humidity and ecosystem of his mother’s memory of her native Seychelles islands. Abstract from a distance, with the image appearing only upon close inspection, the Paradise series possess a dreamlike quality, transporting the viewer to a time and place long past, both real and imaginary.

About artist

Tahir Carl Karmali

"I am primarily an investigator of materials and vernacular design. Focusing on their underlying source – as currency, as markers of cultural identity, or as an exploitable artifact. I am invested in transforming these materials into varying formats (sculptural installations, prints, textile works) that are deceptively beautiful or attractive, as an art form, allowing the viewer to savor them as primary material before a layer of trauma (of migration, of displacement, of labor) slowly reveals itself.

My work is based not only on my own physical experience of moving between borders, and globally diverse cultures but also on how certain elemental materials move through these same routes and are thus transformed per their use value in each space, including within the art world." Tahir Carl Karmali.

Tahir Karmali is a visual artist who pairs materials and portraiture to define personal narratives through the mixed mediums of photography, paper making, and installation. His expression describes economic and political accounts and pronounces them with a single material or object. Karmali’s interest in outlier communities whose identities are shaped by economic, political and social systems are transcribed into narratives describing the wide-ranging reality of the human experience. The materials he uses are dictated by the perception and value of an object in the narrative; whether it is a valued item through the eyes of a male sex worker in Nairobi or a plastic veiled apartment of a New York immigrant.

Currently, Karmali is combining dig...

About Gallery

Circle Art Gallery

Founded in 2012, and based in Nairobi, Kenya, Circle Art Gallery promotes contemporary art from Eastern Africa.

Our intention is to create a strong and sustainable art market for East African artists by supporting and promoting the most innovative and exciting artists currently practicing in the region. Through group and solo exhibitions, as well as participation in international art fairs, the gallery has increased visibility for established and emerging artists, both internationally and at home.

Circle provides expert services to a wide range of private, regional and international clients, from those who wish to make a single purchase to those looking to start a collection or enhance an existing one.

In the past six years the art scene has changed considerably in the region, and particularly in Kenya. Audiences have grown, artists have more opportunities to show internationally and our Circle events are regularly attended by sizeable numbers of visitors. Circle has been at the forefront of these changes in perception of the value and importance of art in the region. We have also nurtured many young Kenyans through our internship programme to go on to study and participate in the wider African art arena.

Working closely with regional and international collectors and curators, we are building a strong and sustainable market for East African artists.

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Lavington
Nairobi
Kenya

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