Overview: Befarmā/ After You
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
The exhibition’s title, Befarmā, derives from a Farsi word frequently used in hosting and hospitality. Loosely translating to “please help yourself” or “after you,” it is commonly heard in communal settings such as meals and tea gatherings. In Amiri’s newest works, the viewer is positioned from a first-person perspective, looking at a table set before them. The table holds a mix of items from both her home country of Afghanistan and the Western cities where she has lived. Dishes like Qabuli Palaw and Seekh Kebab sit alongside items such as Sharab (wine), Ashtaq (apricot), Seer (garlic), and Saeb (apple), all arranged on a Dastarkhwān (tablecloth). Many of these works are inspired by actual meals Amiri has shared with friends and family—sites of communal exchange where conversations about life, art, and politics unfold. Amiri employs a painterly approach to color and materials, combining fiber, block printing, and colored pencil. Her choice of materials is deeply autobiographical. Fleeing Kabul with her family in 1996 at the age of seven, she moved through multiple countries before immigrating to Canada in 2005. During this time, her mother taught her to sew, and her uncle worked as a tailor. The colors and fabrics in her work reference the textiles she remembers from Kabul’s bazaars and streets. Amiri constructs her textile pieces by layering, piecing, and sewing together fabrics to create intricate still lives, portraits, and environments. In Befarmā, she further expands the complexity of her surfaces, incorporating block printing, hand painting, and hand-drawn elements. The works in Befarmā place the viewer in the intimate yet charged space of communal exchange, where personal histories intersect with broader sociopolitical realities. Whether depicting spaces of family gatherings or collective resistance, these settings become sites of care, negotiation, and deep listening. Amiri’s intricate textile compositions bridge the tactile and the conceptual, seamlessly intertwining traditions of craft with contemporary dialogues on gender, migration, and memory. In Befarmā, she invites us to see the table not merely as a place of nourishment, but as a stage for storytelling and cultural continuity—where the personal and political converge.
Installation view of Hangama Amiri: Befarmā/ After You. Nazarian/ Curcio Gallery 2025. © Nazarian Curcio Gallery.
Installation view of Hangama Amiri: Befarmā/ After You. Nazarian/ Curcio Gallery 2025. © Nazarian Curcio Gallery.
Installation view of Hangama Amiri: Befarmā/ After You. Nazarian/ Curcio Gallery 2025. © Nazarian Curcio Gallery.
Installation view of Hangama Amiri: Befarmā/ After You. Nazarian/ Curcio Gallery 2025. © Nazarian Curcio Gallery.
Dastarkhwān. 2025 – Muslin, cotton, chiffon, canvas, denim, linen, silk, polyester, suede, inkjet-print on silk-chiffon, block-print, color-pencil and acrylic paint on fabric – 77.5 H x 54'' W
Dastarkhwān. 2025 (Details)
Dastarkhwān. 2025 (Details)
Still-Life with Sushi and Red Wine. 2025 – Muslin, cotton, chiffon, linen, silk, polyester, suede, block-print, color-pencil and acrylic paint on fabric – 47''H x 64''W
Still-Life with Sushi and Red Wine. 2025 (Details)
Nawruz/ New Day. 2025 – Muslin, cotton, chiffon, canvas, denim, silk, polyester, inkjet-print on silk-chiffon, block-print, color-pencil and acrylic paint on fabric – 40''H x 60''W
Nawruz/ New Day. 2025 (Details)
Nawruz/ New Day. 2025 (Details)
Morning. 2025 – Muslin, cotton, chiffon, lenin, denim, silk, polyester, suede, block-print, color-pencil and acrylic paint on fabric – 57''H x 50''W
Morning. 2025 (Details)