LATEST NEWS
LATEST NEWS
Shifting Ground: A journey through the work of Anwar Jalal Shemza
25th March 2023
Chair: Rachel Garfield | Speakers: Hammad Nasar | Aphra Shemza
Join us for a talk and panel discussion as we explore the work of Anwar Jalal Shemza through the lens of four distinct voices within the arts. Recently there has been a rethinking of the importance of migrant artists within British Art History. First generation British South Asian artists like Anwar Jalal Shemza have been included in museum exhibitions globally and art history books are being rewritten and rethought. These changes make it possible for new conversations to take place around curating, transforming modern British art for a contemporary audience and valuing its impact on contemporary art today.
Hosted by Rachel Garfield, Professor of Fine Art at RCA, the event will explore the potential for reimagining collections in the postwar context and hear from Hammad Nasar about his curatorial interventions in the field. We will delve into the contemporary artistic practice of Aphra Shemza (Anwar Jalal Shemza’s granddaughter), by featuring the shemza.digital project and current exhibition here at Wolverhampton Art Gallery and show how Shemza has inspired the next generation of British artists working today.
Wolverhampton Art Gallery
Art in Flux: Transformations
20th December - 20th March 2023
During the pandemic media artists provided a silver lining of cultural activity. Post-Covid, the role of technology in society has changed the way we work, communicate, consume and create culture globally. This technological transformation necessitates a reflection on the artists’ role in forging this societal change. How can artists help to ensure that digital resources remain accessible, affordable, ethical, and human-centred? As active agents, visionaries and pioneers of rapidly changing techno-cultures, media artists lead by example through their own practice, frequently identifying public deficits through their art. Through talks, performances and a hybrid exhibition, ‘Art in Flux: Transformations’ spotlights intersections between arts and society.
Online
shemza.digital online exhibition
30th September - 30th October 2021
The shemza.digital project uses Anwar Jalal Shemza’s work as a starting point beside the contemporary practice of Aphra Shemza (the artist’s granddaughter) to continue Shemza’s aesthetic exploration and extend his legacy for current and future generations. The project highlights the importance of migrant artists in British Art History. It celebrates diversity aiming to step towards a decolonised artworld in an increasingly polarised political climate.
By creating this interactive project, shemza.digital asks the public to join them on this journey, generating art that is free and accessible to all. Since its launch members of the public have been invited to submit their own digital paintings created in the style of Anwar Jalal Shemza to an online archive and learn about Shemza’s work.
Online
shemza.digital at Deep AI Art Fair with Art in Flux
13th-17th October 2021
Founded in 2016 by the artists Maria Almena, Aphra Shemza and Olive Gingrich, Art in Flux is a community interest company committed to furthering the development of the media arts community in the UK. As an artist-led forum, Art in Flux offers a space for collaboration and exchange as key artists and organizations come together to profile their work. Through talks, events, performances, workshops, commissions and exhibitions, Art in Flux brings these ideas to the wider public - providing a fluid platform to discuss strategies, processes and collective themes within the media arts.
For Deep AI Art Fair Art in Flux presented the work of Aphra Shemza, Kimatica, Olive Gingrich, Shama Rahman and Stuart Batchelor. The exhibition included 3D printed sculpture, NFTs, VR and interactive artworks and limited edition prints available for sale.
London, UK
Art in Flux: Reclaimed
30th March - 30th April 2021
24th June - 4th July 2021
8th - 13th September 2021
Ars Electronica Festival, Kensington and Chelsea Art Week & Online
Curated by the three Art in Flux co-founders, Olive Gingrich, Maria Almena and Aphra Shemza, the exhibition features twelve artists from the Art in Flux community; Aminder Virdee, Aphra Shemza & Stuart Batchelor, Camille Baker, Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley, Enrique Agudo, Kimatica, Natasha Trotman, Olive Gingrich & Shama Rahman, and Ro Greengrass & Maddy James. The exhibition provides a virtual space of visibility for diverse voices within the media arts. Globally accessible, this canon of artistic positions, a vista of equal representation and multiplicity, representing eclectic and vibrant diversity across the media arts.
Inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement and persisting glaring inequalities they unearthed for BAME communities across cultural institutions, Reclaimed offers an alternative space of creative representation celebrating diversity. With this exhibition, Art in Flux is reclaiming the importance of celebrating different ways of being and creating, including diverse genders, cultural backgrounds, and neuro-diverse ways of creating - to ensure equal representation across the media arts.
Anwar Jalal Shemza - A talk with Aphra Shemza
22nd July 2021
Towner Art Gallery with the Blue Monkey Network
On the 22nd July 2021 Aphra Shemza gave a talk for the Blue Monkey artist network hosted by Towner Art Gallery, Eastbourne about the work of her grandfather Anwar Jalal Shemza.
shemza.digital
6th - 11th July 2021
The Other Art Fair
The Other Art Fair Virtual Editions launches its first London edition this 6–11 July 2021. We’re thrilled to announce that Shemza.digital, a participatory digital art project by Aphra Shemza and Stuart Batchelor based on the work of Aphra Shemza’s grandfather, the well known British/Pakistani painter Anwar Jalal Shemza, will be part of it! Read on to find out more.
Seeking to highlight the importance of migrant voices within British art history as a means to decolonise the artworld, Shemza and Batchelor invite the public to create their own digital artworks in the style of Anwar Shemza creating a space for contemplation and artistic activity that is free and accessible to all.
The booth will feature the digital painting application, a virtual sculpture and a set of limited edition prints alongside works by Anwar Jalal Shemza.
shemza.digital: participatory art as a catalyst for social change
We are delighted to announce the publishing of ‘shemza.digital: participatory art as a catalyst for social change’ in the EVA London Conference!
This paper explores the historical discourse around migrant voices within British art history, why now is the time to address these subjects and how through the use of participatory digital art it is possible to educate for social change. The paper will focus in particular on shemza.digital, a digital and interactive participatory art project created by Aphra Shemza and Stuart Batchelor. The project was funded by Arts Council England and based on the work of the British/Pakistani painter Anwar Jalal Shemza.
EVA London Conference
July 2021
Art in Flux: Reclaimed
30th March 2021
The need to discuss curatorial strategies around representation is now more important than ever. Taking into account that media art is an underrepresented form within the contemporary art world, this event will discuss how today’s curators and media artists celebrate diversity, and representation of gender, cultural heritage and neuro-diversity. While UK art institutions continue to address issues around representation and diversity, inequalities remain in their collections and programs. What role can independent art organizations play to facilitate a greater representation within these spaces?
Online & National Gallery X
Watermans Digital Weekend
21st - 22nd November 2020
The annual Digital Weekender brings the best and brightest new media arts talent to Watermans. This year, it’s all taking place online and shemza.digital will be there! The weekender will take place over the weekend of 21 & 22 November online, with a range of exciting events, from exhibitions to live streamed performances to workshops.
Watermans Art Centre
Shemza Digital: Across Generations
14th January - 16th April 2023
The shemza.digital exhibition features the work of renowned British Pakistani Modernist artist Anwar Jalal Shemza alongside the contemporary practice of Aphra Shemza, the artist’s granddaughter. It continues Shemza’s aesthetic exploration of an abstract form and extends his legacy for current and future generations. Launched in collaboration with the computer artist Stuart Batchelor, highlights the importance of migrant artists in British Art History and celebrates diversity in our increasingly polarised political climate.
The exhibition features participatory digital projections that invite you to create your own digital paintings that will become part of the ever-evolving archive of work, and will be exhibited in the gallery space. Interactive architectural sculptures respond to visitor’s movements. A specially commissioned soundscape by NYX and Petit Oiseau accompanies the work, fusing traditional South Asian instruments with drone & ambient electronic sounds.
Wolverhampton Art Gallery & online
