Mek Contemporary is pleased to present Regard, a group exhibition curated by Rachel Hakimian Emenaker, bringing together six artists working across painting, textiles, sculpture, and archival imagery. The exhibition explores the relationship between visibility and recognition, examining how images shape our understanding of bodies, identities, and histories.
An image can preserve a history while distorting it, revealing something about its subject while exposing the expectations of the viewer. The artists in Regard approach this tension from distinct positions, exploring how bodies, identities, and histories are represented and what remains beyond the frame. Their works move between personal experience and political histories, inherited narratives and imagined worlds.
Although Yasmine Nasser Diaz, Lauren Elder, Muriel Ahmarani Jaouich, Samar Al Summary, Haniko Zahra, and Aneesa Shami Zizzo share concerns with representation, memory, and identity, their works resist a single perspective. Moving between political histories and personal experience, inherited traditions and imagined worlds, they challenge the idea that a person or a culture can be fully understood through the images made of them.
To regard is to look, but also to consider, value, and hold in esteem. Regard invites close attention without assuming that looking grants complete understanding, acknowledging both what an image reveals and what remains beyond its frame.
Opening Reception:
Friday, November 13, 6pm–8pm
Gallery Hours:
Wednesday - Saturday, 11am - 5pm