Wrapped in Code

Mona Kamal, Pine Needle Sari (installation view), 2002, indian lining cloth and pine needles.

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  Mona Kamal, Pine Needle Sari (installation view), 2002, indian lining cloth and pine needles.
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  Farheen HaQ, Inclination, 2004, double channel video projection.
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  Mona Kamal, Noor, 2002, pen and ink, rice paper, and wood.
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  Mona Kamal, Noor (detail), 2002, pen and ink, rice paper, and wood.
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  Farheen HaQ, (un)covering, 2002, digtial video loop.
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  Farheen HaQ, (un)covering, 2002, digtial video loop.
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  Wrapped in Code Opening reception, 2004.

3-14 March, 2004

Gallery 1313, 1313 Queen St. W, Toronto

Curated by Rachel Kalpana James

Opening reception - Thursday, 4 March, 7-10 pm - all welcome.

Fragments, gestures Woven into our lives Unfold new meanings.

Ritual and repetitive gestures belie the art and art making process in the textile work of Mona Kamal and the video art of Farheen HaQ.

Kamal: "The pieces that I create involve a long, slow, repetitive process." She pierces hundreds of pine needles into an extended woven cloth. She invents new characters and markings, creating a fictitious visual script to tell her personal stories.

HaQ places herself in her videos: "I re-enact and perform simple actions that are either religious or culturally coded. With subtle changes, I push the gesture beyond the norm."

As Muslim women, both these artists fragment traces from their religion, family, and bodies to repeat patterns, creating trance-like works which invite the viewer to discover their own stories.