UAE born, Swedish raised and London educated artist Ayan Farah’s poetic works are a mediation natural phenomena via the relationship between structure and medium. Farah is interested in obtaining a physical and tactile record of natural phenomena –such as light and the effects of weather – which she does by allowing the experience of exposure to physical elements such as rain, wind, snow and sun to shape the artwork. Utilising an alchemical combination of alcohol, vinegar, salt and natural elements such as clay, Farah encourages both organic and chemical changes to occur within the canvas. Farah’s works are in a sense site specific, and while they are not specifically created for a certain place, they are specifically created by a place. Farah carefully choses and travels to locations across Northern Europe to create her canvases that in return act as imprints of natural processes they endure. An important factor in the completion and subsequent presentation of Farah’s work is light: as the light of the space in which the work is displayed changes throughout the day, folds, layers and the opaqueness of the surface of the canvas are exposed to reveal the delicate nature of the works materiality as it occupies and co-exists with the space.

“It’s about how the work occupies space and co-exists with it, it’s about weight and weightlessness.” - AYAN FARAH