Ongoing exhibition at Under The Mango Tree

Art talk on Dec 16 at 16:00 at the “under The Mango Tree”

Exhibitions-2023- Allegory of a Stranger – Tora Aghabayova

A painting is a tableau of coded messages in form and color, which can tell stories, create myths and reinforce narratives. As an artist, I am preoccupied with the history of formal painting and its use as a powerful propaganda tool in shaping ideologies and promoting socially normative behaviour. In my own art work, which reference ideologies of various historical periods, from communist to religious or consumerist, I often incorporate elements of the absurd, which in my view are capable of wreaking havoc in the monolith of our preconceptions. These familiar, yet reinvented stories, or what I call “nonexistent myths” may seem innocent at first, but by deploying them I aim to challenge stereotypes and unsettle the viewer’s understanding of norms and belief systems entrenched in our society.