Story-telling in All its Manifestations | Homa Arkani | The Invisible Line

Curating is not very different from journalism. Both are about a white canvas or a blank paper, and a story.  As a journalist, I look for ideas (or an idea comes to me), collect material, and reveal them as beautifully and comprehensively as I can. Same with exhibitions— I look for art (or artists come to me), and much like a puzzle, choose what I like or I find relative, and represent them in a cohesive narrative for viewers to enjoy. In both, as in everything else I do, I look for critical perspectives and a creative language. In both, I sit back and let the audience love/hate it, but most importantly, and hopefully, engage in it.

The next show at the gallery involves only one artist, Homa Arkani, and I’m very proud of making it happen. I had followed her work for a while, so when I approached her to do a show and she embraced wholeheartedly, I was elated. She told me how difficult it was to work as an artist in Iran these days, and how motivating it was to send and show her works abroad (but not herself, unfortunately). She’s had many exhibitions and has been recognised outside of Iran, but this is her first solo, and the first one in London.

I never thought I was or would be a curator. And I don’t know how long this will go on. But aside from the strange logistics and politics that goes into “dealing with artists” and “arting with dealers,” it felt natural from day one. When I complained to my best friend that I may be doing too much and confusing people, she said, “this is called being multidisciplinary.”  She’s right.