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By Trend

The Liminality personal exhibition of the famous Azerbaijani artist Aida Mahmudova has opened at the Gazelli Art House Gallery in London, the press service of the YARAT Contemporary Art Space told Trend.

The exhibition’s curator is Alistair Hicks.

Considering her rapidly modernizing country’s forgotten and marginal corners, Mahmudova uses art as an outlet to give a feeling of stability to co-exist in this unprecedented environment. Art gives no boundaries, but, on the contrary, opens to any communicational variations for the painter.

The concept of space is closely investigated through the lens of the artist. As Mahmudova explains, "we exist within space, we co-exist in parallel, and space exists within us." Space can be a place where one physically or spiritually exists, creating the concept of one’s reality and illusions.

Marc Augé’s concept of non-places explores the idea of transition or the liminal, as a crossroads of human relations to what humans perceive but only partially and incoherently.

Aida Mahmudova explores the theme of juxtaposition of private and public, places and non-places, spaces and non-spaces. Marc Augé’s concept of non-places investigates the idea of transition, non-spaces discourage ‘settling in’ contrasting with the notion of ‘home’ and identity, where a paradox exists. Although that space can be equally alienating to anyone, one can feel ‘comfortable’ and ‘relational’.

By shedding light on liminality, or threshold crossing, Aida Mahmudova explores spaces of transition and disorientation. Initially coined by Arnold Van Gennep, rites of passage in 1909, the notion that an individual’s life comprises of a series of transitions into three stages, separation, transition and return, where liminality is transition. Liminality has both spatial and temporal dimensions and can be applied to various subjects: individuals, communities, societies, and entire civilisations. On the contrary, nature has a sense of stability, timeless and open space, where Mahmudova regularly returns to as a source of inspiration.

"It’s the artist and the medium. The never-ending relationship between me and the other resembles perpetual conversation. It takes full involvement from both sides. The act itself is the purest form of creation. This, in turn, gives you a unique opportunity to engage in authentic and unguarded communication with unfolding perspectives. It connects and unites us in the moment of now, giving versatile, unpredictable and beautiful outcomes," she says.

About Gazelli Art House

Founded in 2010 by Mila Askarova, Gazelli Art House, London, has been committed to bringing a fresh perspective to Mayfair through championing artists from all corners of the globe, focusing on those at the height of their practice, presenting and contextualising their work to new audiences. With sister gallery Baku, the gallery specialises in promoting art from Azerbaijan and its neighbours to further a greater understanding of the rich linguistic, religious and historical ties that connect this geography. Since 2015, the gallery has expanded to support artists working in digital art through its online platform GAZELL.iO. Most recently, in 2020, it established the GAZELL.iO Project Space and VR Library, the first permanent home dedicated to digital art in Mayfair.

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