Forced Labor Camp of Meaning/Broken Language

O Gallery presents a selection of paintings, sculptures and installations by Hourieh Rasouli (b. 1987), developed over approximately eight and a half years, marking the artist’s debut solo show.
The exhibition explores language, communication and the ways meaning is formed, understood and misunderstood. Through wordplay and shifts between words and images, the works examine the difficulty of fully understanding one another. Rather than conveying a specific message, Rasouli creates a space for viewers to experience the uncertainty of communication and the ongoing attempt to establish new ways of understanding. The series is rooted partly in the artist’s personal experience of voice and communication. Due to a congenital condition, her childhood voice has remained unchanged, shaping a sense of distance between herself and others. The works also reflect broader social conditions, particularly the manipulation of shared meanings and resulting feelings of distance, mistrust, and loneliness. The exhibition is divided into three sections: “Prologue,” “Regularizers” and “Narratives.” These sections explore the body parts involved in communication, the sounds of language and narratives of communication breakdown explored through paintings, installations and floating words.
Materials are an essential part of the works’ meaning. Blue plaster, ceramic, iron, plexiglass and tracing paper are used to explore ideas of fragility, concealment, reflection and the structures of language. Developed through a process of destruction, reconstruction and experimentation, the works remain between recognition and uncertainty. Rather than offering fixed meanings, they invite viewers to question the relationship between what they see, what they read and what they understand.
With thanks to
Mohammad Hossein Gholamzadeh, Fatemeh Shishechi, Zahra Habibi Khosroshahi, Armin Abdi, Professor Rasoul Jalili, Morteza Bagheri, Mohsen Jalili, Ali Azimi, Reza Abedini, Abr Art Services, and all those who contributed to and supported the development and production of the project.