Zarina Bhimji

17 Nov 2012 — 31 Mar 2013
de Appel arts centre
Opening: Friday 16 November 18:00 - 21:00 hrs

This winter de Appel arts centre simultaneously presents solo projects by the Belgian photographer/filmmaker Dirk Braeckman and the British artist Zarina Bhimji. Braeckmans sensitive and large-scale photographs in shades of grey do not tell elaborate stories but are charged with an atmosphere which makes them “tick away like time bombs”, in the words of the author Luc Sante. The suggestive force and narrative potential of images are just as essential for Bhimji, whose latest film Yellow Patch (2011) has its Dutch premiere in de Appel arts centre.

In Zarina Bhimji’s work (UGA, 1963) beauty merges with politics and poetry so something new emerges. Her work is characterised by a deliberate use of visual ambiguity. The works reflect spaces, micro details and the light of distant interiors. The location of light is an important and intricate element of Bhimji’s composition. The stillness and suspension of everyday life. The atmosphere is tactile, a moist light. The spaces refer to disconnection, incompleteness and belatedness.

The exhibition develops in two phases: from 16 November 2012 to 3 February de Appel premieres Bhimji's new production Yellow Patch, from 5 February to 31 March de Appel showcases the installation Waiting (2007).

Yellow Patch is Bhimji’s second large film production, co-produced by de Appel arts centre, Outset Contemporary Art Fund, The New Art Gallery Walsall with executive producers Artsadmin. Additional support was provided from Arts Council England, Framestore and individual donors. The 35mm film was entirely shot in India and was inspired by trade and immigration routes across the Indian Ocean. Beautiful close-ups of desolate Haveli palaces and colonial offices in the port of Mumbai are coupled with atmospheric images of the desert and the sea and accompanied by an evocative soundtrack.

Waiting was shot in East-Africa in a factory used to process Sisal and has an abstraction that hovers somewhere between film and painting. The washed-out colour of the hair-like material, the light, and the interior of the factory create a saturated monochrome that, combined with the film's soundtrack, becomes immersive.