Sausan Saulat, M.F.A. painting student, opened her graduate thesis show “This, that and the other: Occidental Accidents,” Friday, March 1 at Dewberry Gallery. Gallery guests moved throughout the installation from Saulet’s paintings to a projected video series. The videos were projected on non-traditional platforms in triptychs, inside picture frames, on an ironing board and inside a suitcase. Also displayed were tiles Saulet painted in the Middle Eastern tradition and a sculpturesque painting erecting from the concrete floor. Self-portraiture appeared in several of Saulet’s paintings as well as the video series.
The following is an excerpt from her artist statement: “The explorations act as vehicles for me to conceptually articulate and legitimize my own presence as an Eastern artist in the Western diaspora. The pieces each flirt with notions of identity, orientalism and conceptions of the other, particularly with regard to women protagonists. Metaphors for tradition, gender, culture, sexuality, politics, violence and religion, all form my vision and theoretical oeuvre.”
