Jumana Manna
ZM
Let's talk about the space. The way she uses the space, the chairs the sculptures and that plateau in the middle. I'm not sure what it does but it does something, something about the space becomes more intimate, I felt like I was sat on a rooftop in Dhaka with my aunts as they fuss around me bringing me tea and mishti. A gallery space felt like home and I am genuinely surprised that I loved it. Often when you try too hard to make a gallery space feel like home, it fails bc it's too contrived (I'm talking to all those hoes that put sofas and rugs in gallery spaces bc domestic setting). But the combo of the plastic chairs, the blankets and the film which was mainly shot in interiors; something changed the space and made it cosy even though it's so big, something made it all close in. I think it was the platform in the middle of the space, something about the platform made it all of a sudden very informal.
I missed the first 20 mins and when I sat down the song that was playing on the film made my eyes tear up. (I have thoughts about the film, but they're not very solid and I don't think my thoughts on the film are worth writing or you reading. I'll let you decide).
If I'm entirely honest, I don't know what I think about the show. I want more time to think about it.
When you walk in the first thing you see are these huge slug shaped sculptures in plaster or whatever and scaffolding and a wheelie bin and that huge mdf platform, and that aesthetic is so nice for my eyes but I've been trying to explain the link between the installation and the film and I just can't really. That's not saying that it felt out of place, it fit… and that's what I can't really seem to get my head to understand. I don't mind that I don't understand it though. Sometimes you don't always have access to meaning, and that's ok. It was like a 10 minute walk from Mile End station and it still would've been worth it if I'd walked from Liverpool Street. I loved this show, I don't know why, something about the way she used the gallery space did something and it flipped just up and changed. The film was long but I truly TRULY wholeheartedly recommend staying for the whole 70 minutes. Just feel the space. Feel the film. Feel the sound. Something will change and you'll feel it when it does.
