Anahita Razmi
New Silk Road Patterns #02 / Istanbul, 2016
Photo print on rice paper
150 x 100 cm
59 1/8 x 39 3/8 in
59 1/8 x 39 3/8 in
Edition of 3 + 1 AP
The photo series New Silk Road Patterns #02 is referring to the ancient trade route that connected China through the Middle East with the Roman Empire. New Silk Road Patterns...
The photo series New Silk Road Patterns #02 is referring to the ancient trade route that connected China through the Middle East with the Roman Empire. New Silk Road Patterns #02 is taking this history as a point of reference. It is collecting low quality clothes found and collected from various markets in Tehran, Tokyo, Beijing, Dubai and Istanbul. A common, if not dominant indication found on these clothes are spelling mistakes: often language is used in ways of patterns, letters are randomly combined, copy/paste text is used, known western clothes brands and logos are sampled and deconstructed. Following the production and sales path of these textiles, the project New Silk Road Patterns #02 is connecting five different Far Eastern and Middle Eastern places through photos of the artist wearing patterns of a destructed, seemingly “universal“ language, that is created somewhere between those places.
Context-specifics mix with random Shanzhai artifacts: the photographs combine high contrast black and white shots, that are resembling fashion advertising, with stock- photo images of traditional “Eastern“ patterns.
The series is printed on rice paper, adding a far Eastern materiality to the black and white aesthetics.

Context-specifics mix with random Shanzhai artifacts: the photographs combine high contrast black and white shots, that are resembling fashion advertising, with stock- photo images of traditional “Eastern“ patterns.
The series is printed on rice paper, adding a far Eastern materiality to the black and white aesthetics.

