Dalia Iskander (UCL): Exteriorising (Hidden) Interiority and Interiorising (Unruly) Exteriority: Miniature dioramas of home and the uncertain terrain of empathetic imagination
| Dates: | 21 October 2024 |
|---|
| Times: | 15:00 - 17:00 |
|---|
| What is it: | Seminar |
|---|
| Organiser: | School of Social Sciences |
|---|
| Who is it for: | University staff, External researchers, Current University students |
|---|
| Speaker: | Dalia Iskander |
|---|
|
Based on ethnographic research conducted over the last two years in the UK, I describe the work of artists who craft tiny dioramas of the home. These ‘miniature narratives’ tell of both artist’s own histories and comparable wider human experiences that they feel compelled to share. In doing so, they externalise interiority, creating work that literally makes visible theirs and others ‘hidden secrets’ that play out in the privacy of the home – poverty, hoarding, addiction and mental illness. Through shrinking and condensing time and space, artists simultaneously interiorise unruly exterior worlds, containing ambiguous connections between people and their surroundings within their minuscule domestic scenes. In turn, these dioramas entice, surprise, captivate and challenge their onlookers, prompting their empathetic imagination. Ultimately, I connect the dots between interiority, exteriority, narrative, scale, imagination, empathy, and dioramic depictions of the home to explicate the interplay between material forms and human wellbeing.
Speaker
Dalia Iskander
Organisation: UCL
Travel and Contact Information
Find event
Hanson Room
Humanities Bridgeford Street
Manchester
