Fallujah 2005

Siah Armajani’s ‘Fallujah’ is a mixed media assemblage that builds a world within a world. The linear composition of the frame is striking against the softness of the objects within. Armajani's approach is so interesting, it's about building. He's not trying to trick you with illusion, but rather, he invites you to consider artmaking as a tangible, constructed process. Looking at it, you can see the frame, its support beams, and these become important. The frame itself is a kind of architecture, and it suggests containment, but it's also see-through, so the boundary is really blurred. Then you see the objects sitting, held within that frame. I can see a rocking horse, I can see some cushions… It reminds me of Kurt Schwitters, of course, but while Schwitters was making art from the detritus of the everyday world, Armajani is playing with memory. It makes you think about our collective visual vocabulary and how we're always in conversation with each other across time, finding our own way of saying things that have already been said. It’s not about finding the definitive interpretation, but about creating a space for possibility.