CARBON 12 is delighted to present The Task of the Mythologist, Anahita Razmi’s fifth solo exhibition at the gallery.
In his canonical text Mythologies (1957), Roland Barthes analyzes how myths are constructed through signs and symbols. Focusing on Western pop culture, he considers how “modern myths” are created by everyday words and objects. For her fifth solo exhibition at Carbon 12, Anahita Razmi builds on this philosophical premise to explore global power structures embedded in our material and virtual worlds alike. For Razmi, symbols like the fingers-crossed emoji, a Turkish talismanic shirt, or a ‘90s Britpop emblem have unstable meanings, shifting with context and use. In fact, it is the act of deconstructing layers of meaning that illuminates their significance. Razmi takes up this task materially, combining, morphing, and transforming cultural references across media to trouble systems of value and generate complex understandings. The exhibition brings together all new works, expands on existing series such as WORLD MUSIC and Talismanic
Polarities, and includes an intervention by the artist Peyman Shafieezadeh.
-May Makki
