Koushna Navabi is an artist whose mixed media practice explores the idea of sensuality and sexuality while reinterpreting the once “feminine” techniques as a form of art and expression. With a strong emphasis on textiles, embroidery and knitted material, she alters, deforms, and transforms objects to emphasis on orientalism, gender identity and socio-political instability. 

Let’s talk about your recent collection and the themes that you explore?

Often I try to bring the history of European art into the present,  about me and my identity and where I come from. And I look at history, of not simply art history, but also, history of colonialism, in the world of art, history of Orientalism and I try to gaze back at Orientalism.

Then there's always an idea of sensuality and sexuality which is interlaced with politics and there is an aspect of mythology. I would say that that in a nutshell is what I'm trying to do.



I feel very strongly as an artist that one must be utilising force to support the movement in Iran , to serve. And here is a piece that's supposed to be a fracture or a slice of a carpet and the hair is synthetic. I wanted to emphasise the significance— the Persian carpet is a symbol of Persian craft and Persian art. Even when you look at the paintings from the 18th century, 19th century of kings and queens, you will see they all have a Persian carpet. And I think if you look at photographs of Freud’s study room there was a persian rug.  So this Persian carpet has been very quietly living a life and it's a very, very highly, a powerful symbol.

And also for Iranians, it's a symbol that we're proud of. We're proud of this crafty art. I took it as a symbol and I included the hair and then the process of what is going on in Iran at the moment and the freedom for women to remove their mandatory hijab. But it isn't just about hair. It's about human rights, more in every way.

Koushna Navabi was born in Iran. She left shortly after the 1979 revolution and moved to the US and later to the UK. She completed her MA in Fine Art at Goldsmiths College, London University in 1995. Her work has been included in numerous international exhibitions, including The Spark is You, exhibited simultaneously in Venice during the 58th Venice Biennale and at Parasol Unit in London; In the Fields of Empty Days: The Intersection of Past and Present in Iranian Art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; the Ikon Gallery, Birmingham; Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge; the Percy Miller Gallery, London; and the Hiroshima Art Document.

Koushba Navabi: Why Did You Separate Me From Myself was on show at Cité internationale des arts till 11th 2023


18 rue de l'Hôtel de Ville, 75004 Paris
Tuesday – Saturday
11am – 7pm

https://www.citedesartsparis.net/

The work that you do is really unique and interesting. Can you explain the emphasis on textiles, embroidery, and knitted materials and how they contribute to the overall visual and conceptual elements of your works of art?

I started working with textiles during my studies, in Goldsmith University London in the mid nineties and I ended up using a lot of textiles and I started knitting as well. I made it into these soft sculptures but the materials that I used became really political inside the art institution. And, a lot of times I was criticised because the idea was that this work doesn't belong in the visual arts, and should be moved to  the textile department. It made me want to battle the materials. I always make reference to the female domain, but also it was about hierarchy while working in the world of art where craft, embroidery and knitting was judged as a form of art. But you know, that was two decades ago and I think that now we've come a very, very long way with embroidery and craftwork, especially when you see male artists taking the same language of material and creating works of art .

However, the battle still continues in some way. Therefore I use it as a sense of irony towards the female domain and it's the material that I feel good with and I like working with it and I like its labour intensive work and the action of the materiality.

When you take a needle and thread, It was Louise Bourgeois who said “The needle is used to repair damage.” It's like you sew the past and the future together. And this element of  part of it made me  very intrigued to work with.

How would you describe your artistic process?

Each piece has its own life. I just see it in my mind's eye. I do a sketch, and it lives in my sketchbook sometimes up to five years before it actually turns into a piece. I do a lot of research before executing the work and the research has to do with the concept behind it and the materiality and what's the best resolution.