Currents have their velocity; skins have their texture - 2021
This work investigates both the allegorical and material relation of skin and clay. At the sight of a precious parchment made of roadkill wallaby skin, Zein had the urgency to lay the bentonite clay onto it. The clay cracks as it touches the parchment revealing the communal ghost of scarring and the traumatic experience of being de-rooted. Using a ficto-critical and poetic script, the video constructs a layered imagery to speak of the wounded relationship between migrant entities, the moving body and landscape.
Azza Zein
Azza Zein is an artist and writer from Beirut. She lives and works in Narrm/Melbourne. Her research explores how artworks can comment on the dematerialisation of the economy and invisibility of labour without a hierarchy between human and non-human entities. She has exhibited in solo and group shows in Australia and participated in art-residencies in Argentina (2016), India (2018), and the Santa Fe Art Institute (online Labour Residency 2020). Her writings have been published in Art + Australia, Kohl Journal for Body and Gender Research, un Extended Reviews among others. She holds an M.F.A (2020) from the Victorian College of Arts, the University of Melbourne and a PhD in economics (2005) from Texas A&M University.