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White Leaves One and Two on Their Place features works on paper, woven textiles, and a new series of experimentations based on pattern singing in Iran called Naqshe Khani, a type of work song guiding the workers through their day in rhythmic instruction.
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Redjaian spotlights the work of carpet weavers—shedding light on the labour and creativity generated around the historic practice. There is a power of attraction in the works of Redjaian that tug us into the bars of lines she draws on graph paper and the threads she stitches into the woven carpets made by her collaborators, carpet weavers in Iran.
Redjaian’s system drawings begin with the experience and meditation of the controlled environment of the artist’s studio. She first creates the pattern for the weavers, marking the rhythm on paper. Interpreting the artist’s draft, the weavers work within their own set of guided measures. Once the handwoven textile is returned to the artist, she applies the final stitches of lines and luminous lithograph imprints, completing her collaborative experiment developed within potential disorder.
No flag, a series of carpets from 2019, were given their title based on their peculiar likeness to a flag, which the artist was not intending on referencing, hence the playful title, nudging, ceci n’est pas un drapeau.
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The artist sheds further light on the work of the carpet weavers by screening the documentary, The Woven Sounds by the musician, composer and researcher Mehdi Aminian. The film explores Naqshe Khani, and how the melodies propel and influence the weaving process. A kind of call and response that guides the weavers in their collaborative labour:
“Two almond nodes before the next one!”
“I did!”
“We have all white in the margin!”
“We have them in the margin!”
“We have brown going one back!”
“It went back!”
“Two golkhar before the node!”
“I placed!”
“Then ayran goes one front!”
“Ayran goes one front!”“White leaves one and two on their place!”
“I placed!”
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The Pattern Singing series (2020) considers this mode of work in a sequence of abstractions that capture the rhythms and formulas of the carpet weaver’s songs, rendered as calculated lines and shaded planes on graph paper. Based on the instruction, “white leaves one and two on their place,'' Redjaian takes the command to task. Building over the grid, she marks with her distinctive stroke: White dashes create a framework, a pattern of square netting, while black rhythm marks slanting and horizontal strokes that sweep diagonally across the page, embodying the carpet weaver’s generative song.
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Haleh Redjaian, The Pattern Singing series, 2020
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Haleh Redjaian, The Pattern Singing series, 2020
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Haleh Redjaian, The Pattern Singing series, 2020
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Haleh Redjaian, The Pattern Singing series, 2020
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Haleh Redjaian, The Pattern Singing series, 2020
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Haleh Redjaian, The Pattern Singing series, 2020
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With every marking, a unit, a knot, a node, Redjaian’s drawings on paper and woven textile explore the limits of space, systems, structure, and the metaphysical. Embracing a journey that is always already mapped out by a system, the artist fulfills the work, marking the surface, one line and one square at a time, rendering her deep rhythmic reflection in a palette of black, white and gray, indigo and maroon, shimmering gold and deep crimson.
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“DAYDREAM TRANSPORTS THE DREAMER OUTSIDE THE IMMEDIATE WORLD TO A WORLD THAT BEARS THE MARK OF INFINITY.”
GASTON BACHELARD
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Haleh Redjaian, Notes for daydreaming (31), 2020
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Haleh Redjaian, Notes for daydreaming (30), 2020
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Haleh Redjaian, Notes for daydreaming (29), 2020
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Haleh Redjaian, Notes for daydreaming (28), 2020
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Haleh Redjaian, Notes for daydreaming (27), 2020
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Haleh Redjaian, Notes for daydreaming (26), 2020
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White Leaves One and Two on Their Place | Press Release
