LONDON.- Delfina Foundation is now presenting the first European solo exhibition by its former resident, LA-based Iranian artist, writer and filmmaker Gelare Khoshgozaran. Born in Tehran in 1986 during the Iran-Iraq war, Khoshgozaran produces work that engages with the legacies of imperial violence. Through film and video Khoshgozaran explores narratives of belonging outside of the geographies and temporalities that have both unsettled a sense of home, and make places of affinity uninhabitable.

Continuing her work into the effects of displacement, this exhibition will present three film works by the artist — two of which are new commissions — coming together as an expanded cinema installation that will speak to the personal impact of exile and its generative potential as a space to build transnational solidarity.

Shown for the first time in the UK, To Keep the Mountain at Bay (2023) is a short film shot on Super 8, which explores the figure of the mountain as a witness of displacement and histories of atrocity. Conceived as an ode to Etel Adnan and her relationship to California, the film weaves together performance, text and image to attempt to encapsulate the dissonance of landscapes that feel familiar and welcoming in geographies that are implicated in experiences of alienation and hostility.

Newly commissioned for the exhibition, the second film will be an ambitious visual expansion of Khoshgozaran’s recently published essay, The Too Many and No Homes of Exile. The work is being developed through a discursive and community-orientated process, central to which is an ‘exile retreat’ organised by the artist, with participants recruited through an international open call.

The film will interweave recorded fragments from the retreat with dream scenes and re-enactments, exploring the connections between exile and antifascism. Lastly, a hand edited Super 8 film of a 1939 anime version of Gulliver’s Travels will be projected as part of the installation. Together, this multimedia installation will create a space to contemplate alienation, world-building and the role of fantasy to cross boundaries both literal and figurative.

Artist

Gelare Khosgozaran’s work has been exhibited at the New Museum, Queens Museum, Hammer Museum, LAXART, London Short Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival, Artspeak, Plug In ICA, and Museo Ex Teresa Arte Actual among others. Khoshgozaran was the recipient of a LACE Lightening Fund (2022), Graham Foundation Award (2020), the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Award (2019), Art Matters Award (2017), Rema Hort Mann Foundation Emerging Artist Grant (2016), and the Andy Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant (2015). She received her BFA from University of Arts in Tehran, in 2009, and MFA from University of Southern California, in 2011. Gelare Khosgozaran was an artist-in-residence at Delfina Foundation during spring 2021.

Curator

Eliel Jones is a curator, writer and organiser based in London. He was the Curator of the second edition of the Brent Biennial, titled In the House of my Love (2022), and is currently Interim Head of Programmes for Metroland Cultures, a Brent-based charity that works to build, share and support art and culture in the London Borough of Brent. Jones’ research interests and methodologies stem from intersectionl approaches to queer and feminist discourse and are guided by his involvement in direct community action and solidarity, such as through his organising work with Lesbians and Gays Support the Migrants. Other curatorial projects include: Queer Correspondence, a worldwide mail-art initiative; Do You Host?, Ujazdowski Centre for Contemporary Art, Warsaw; Acts of Translation, Mohammed and Mahera Abu Ghazaleh Foundation, Amman, Jordan; and Experiments on Public Space, Dallas Museum of Art, Texas. He has previously held curatorial positions at organisations including Cell Project Space and Chisenhale Gallery (both in London), where he has worked towards realising commissions of new work by artists including Alex Baczynski- Jenkins, Luke Willis Thompson, Hannah Black and Lydia Ourahmane. He regularly writes on contemporary art and performance for various international publications, and is a visiting lecturer in fine art and curating courses in the UK.

Founded in 2007, Delfina Foundation is a London-based independent, non-profit foundation dedicated to facilitating artistic exchange and developing creative practice through residencies, partnerships and public programming. As London’s largest residency provider, Delfina has hosted over 450 artists, curators and writers in residence from over 85 countries around the world, partnering with institutions, including Tate, V&A, ICA, Frieze, Chisenhale, Art Jameel, and Dhaka Art Summit.