Nikta Mohammadi: Memory Stone at The Lowry
Maja Lorkowska, Exhibitions Editor
The Lowry presents Memory Stone, the first institutional solo exhibition from artist Nikta Mohammadi.
Mohammadi is originally from Teheran but now based in West Yorkshire – an important detail to remember as you encounter her work. Memory Stone focuses on the landscape of the North, particularly the artist’s home of Calderdale, with a combination of Iranian mythology, science fiction and the artist’s own experience of land and place.
Dreams woven into the mundane everyday provide inspiration for Mohmmadi’s work, which stays relevant and rooted to reality thanks to its politically charged element and an interest in the private and public. This is particularly true of Memory Stone where a piece of land becomes a site of private and collective reconciliation with its history.
In her hands the landscape becomes a character rather than a background, creating an immersive film installation that transforms the gallery space through image and sound (created by composer Babak Mirsarali). The story follows a rambler who encounters memories in the landscape: ancient dreams and forgotten histories are revealed by an otherworldly structure. Mohammadi uses motifs from different mythologies, science fiction and Gothic horror to create a piece that may be visually appealing but also carries an unsettling feeling of suspense.
Mohammadi is particularly interested in recreating the ghostly impressions left on the landscape by migrants; imprints permeating the land. As the artist herself says: “Memory Stone is an attempt at turning an internal landscape into an external one.”
The resulting piece was produced with the help of workshops with the Doosti group, a community of Farsi-speaking refugees and asylum seekers in Salford. The research yielded a range of perspectives and references regarding the British countryside which then informed the making of Memory Stone, presenting the rural landscape as a site of absence and remembering.
The work on display has been commissioned by the Lowry through its Artist Development Programme: Developed With The Lowry.
