SHE WHO SEES THE UNKNOWN: HUMA
Morehshin Allahyari
Can mythical stories reframe issues in the present and future?
This is a reimagining of the narrative of ‘Huma’, a powerful Middle Eastern jinn or genie. Often depicted as a female, horned three-headed spirit, Huma is thought to be responsible for causing a fever. Allahyari rewrites the narrative, envisioning Huma using her heat-related powers as means of moderating the planet’s temperature, countering the effects of global warming. This video and 3D printed sculpture form part of a wider body of work by the artist that reinterprets monstrous female figures of Islamic mythical origin. Allahyari is interested in “re-figuring”, a form of feminist practice whereby artists reclaim the past to re-imagine different forms of present and future. In this work and others, she counters Western-centric perspectives on present challenges such as climate change.
How might the past be reclaimed to reimagine the future?
Morehshin Allahyari is an Iranian-Kurdish artist who employs 3D simulation, video, sculpture, and digital fabrication as tools to reinterpret myth and history. Her work has been featured in many exhibitions around the world, including at the Venice Biennale of Architecture, New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York, Centre Pompidou in Paris, Museum of Contemporary Art in Montreal and Tate Modern in London.
Installation photography: Matthew Stanton