AYSHA HAMOUDA

“Overwhelmed by loss of purview, the viewer finds little to stabilize and contextualize the work’s logic. When entering the room, through a curtained entrance—viewers are immediately absorbed with no time to acclimate. While adjusting their vision, only the outlines of strange floating shapes--rectangles and lines-- are immediately visible. Viewers tiptoe with palms facing forward in an attempt to perceive boundaries of walls and depths. While moving, they realize that the floating shapes change and alter their facades—a simultaneous ‘happening’ that interchangeably toggles between what is flat and what is dimensional. Nothing stands still long enough. Under the low radiance of flickering backlight, these distorted signals create a misleading frame of spatial reference, one which does not match with the other senses. This will cause a physical experience for some viewers that leaves them whirling and off balance. 

In Each Body - A Vertiginous House, Hamouda is concerned with how perceptual deception can be weaponized—a tenet of our contemporary moment. One that toggles between fact and fiction within the onslaught of technological experiences in our everyday lives, where holding someone’s attention and getting them lost in the act of perception is the quandary of our time.”

— Courtney Asztalos, Curator of Each Body - A Vertiginous House