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YARAT Contemporary Art Centre will present Dis Place – a solo exhibition by the Columbian-born artist Oscar Murillo.

The exhibition will be opened on November 11 at the Art Centre and last till January 29.The exhibition curator is Suad Garayeva-Maleki.

The exhibition, which includes a newly commissioned series of works alongside textiles, paintings, sculptures and videos, continues the artist’s engagement with materials as a means of exploring wider conceptual dialogues surrounding structures of production within a specific geographic context. Most of the elements which make up the exhibition are sourced in Azerbaijan as the result of the artist’s encounters with individuals and communities in the lead up to the exhibition.

A core aspect of the show is the artist’s collaboration with a community of skilled workers at a factory which manufactures silk textiles in Sheki, a historic town in Azerbaijan. Located at the foot of the Caucasus Mountains, it was an important post on the ancient Silk Route. Murillo collaborated with local artisans to create a series of large-scale works based on a medieval stained glass technique still practiced in the region and found in Sheki’s famous Khan’s Palace. The artist replaces the delicate material of glass with scraps of discarded metal from the factory yard, thereby playing with the original aesthetic and adding a political dimension to the poetic oriental design.

Murillo frequently explores issues of community and migration drawing upon his own cultural heritage and that of others. Through a meaningful collaboration with the Sheki silk factory and the town’s community, these discourses manifest themselves through both the materials he chooses to use and a revival of the factory as a site of production.

Born in 1986 in Colombia, Oscar Murillo received his B.F.A. in 2007 from the University of Westminster, London, followed by his M.F.A in 2012 from the Royal College of Art, London. His paintings, video works, and performances are tied to a notion of community stemming from the artist’s cross-cultural ties to London and La Paila, Colombia, where he currently lives and works. Murillo has exhibited widely at prominent institutions worldwide. In 2015, solo presentations were held at the Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House, New York (part of Performa 15); Museo de Arte de la Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá; and Centro Cultural Daoíz y Velarde, Madrid (part of ArcoColombia 2015). Earlier this year, Murillo’s work was featured in the 2nd Hangzhou Triennial of Fiber Art 2016 in China and the 3rd Aichi Triennial. Homo Faber: A Rainbow Caravan in Japan. The artist is currently participating in the 5th Anyang Public Art Project (APAP) in Korea.

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