My works make use of letters, words, patterns and decorative elements to question the juxtaposition of structure and ornament. Rather than separating one from the other, my work fuses ornament and structure and highlights their interdependence. I merge syllables and words with objects and surfaces into artworks that can only be deciphered if their constituent parts are regarded as a unified whole, rather than separately as structure and ornament.
In THIS ORNAMENTATION IS WHAT THIS [WALL] IS BUILT FOR, I interrupt the act of reading and invent a language that integrates letters with objects and surfaces to combine them into new types of signifiers.
The messages that thus transpire speak of the synergy between the human urges to structure and embellish our environment and the unique capacity of textiles and ornamentation to accommodate both these urges.
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Farniyaz Zaker is an Iranian-born artist and researcher, who currently lives and works between Germany and UK. She has been the recipient of numerous grants and awards. In 2011 she was awarded the Lamb and Flag scholarship from St John’s College of the University of Oxford, which enabled her to pursue a Doctor of Philosophy in Fine Art. She has exhibited widely both nationally and internationally, having been included in exhibitions in the Sharjah Museum–UAE, The Ashmolean Museum–UK, Pi Artworks Gallery–Turkey & UK, Laing Art Gallery–UK, Mark Rothko Museum–Latvia, Etemad Gallery– UAE, Contemporary Istanbul International Biennale–Turkey, ID an exhibition held in a fringe exhibition during the Venice Biennale 2019 and O Gallery–Tehran (2020). Zaker’s work is held in major public and private collections such as the Arter- Space for Art, Turkey.