Geology of a Home II
Live video installation
19 x 24 feet (variable)
2015
Zoya Siddiqui’s practice traverses varying media – she works in performance, videos, video-installations and digital photography. Each body of work stems from its own context and specificities – after spending extended time as participant observer within a chosen site, Zoya either captures naturally on-going “performances” or orchestrates “performative interventions” within the space, seeking responses from its natural inhabitants and creating momentary spectacles/stages within the mundane in process. Most works are an unwitting collaboration between artist and publics, make use of the social dynamics as raw material too and provide focused views into a momentary performance.
Geology of a Home II, created at the abandoned Brierfield Mill in Lancashire, invited residents of the town (mostly Pakistani immigrants) to re-explore the Cotton Mill’s historic and central position in giving birth to the entire community – families with inevitably intertwined histories with the space, but now removed, viewed their monumentalized selves seated in the original home, thereby reactivating the site as a point of convergence/participation.
Siddiqui is based in Lahore, Pakistan and has been part of residencies at the Vasl Artists’ Collective Karachi, Theertha Performance Platform in Colombo and In-Situ, UK. She is also alum of the Triangle Arts Association.
Image Courtesy | Zoya Siddiqui