University of Salford Art Collection Covid Commissions: Parham Ghalamdar with Castlefield Gallery

University of Salford Art Collection Covid Commissions #4: Parham Ghalamdar with Castlefield Gallery

We are pleased to announce the premiere of Birds or Borders by Iranian-born, Manchester-based artist Parham Ghalamdar. Usually known for painting, Parham has recently been exploring animation in his practice. 

Birds or Borders is one of six new co-commissions for the University of Salford Art Collection during Covid 19 – read more about the wider programme here, and more about Parham’s work here. 

The full video is available to watch online here.
It will be exhibited at the New Adelphi Exhibition Gallery in 2021. It has also been selected for Warrington Arts Festival in September 2020.

Parham Ghalamdar:

“The “Birds or Borders” is objectively exploring the medium of expanded painting and drawing, stretched out with digital tools and heavily influenced by the Soviet Montage Theories. The object is to accumulate and communicate information in a disciplined manner. 

The subject of the work is borrowed from the Covid-19 disruptions. During the lock down each and every one of us has experienced a unique context in lack of freedom of movement: people were not authorized to leave their houses. However the restriction of movement is nothing new. Asylum seekers, refugees, immigrants and people holding week passports have been dealing with life-threatening forms of such limitations; Trump’s travel ban is perhaps an radical example of it. Hopefully this situation would result in having more sympathy with each other.”

Stephanie Fletcher, Assistant Curator, University of Salford Art Collection says:

“The politics and policing of ‘borders’ are now more in focus than ever in light of the multiple global upheavals around us: from Brexit and asylum policy, to the climate crisis and Covid 19. Parham’s careful and timely work explores the concurrent experiences of urgency and delay at the border: a frustrating sense of only being able to watch and wait for uncertain futures. His recent animation work is an exciting development in his practice, and the commissioned video will be a valuable addition to our permanent Collection.” 

Helen Wewiora, Director of Castlefield Gallery adds:

“I first encountered Parham’s work at his degree show where I selected him to join our mentee scheme at Castlefield Gallery. I was immediately struck by his vibrant colour palette and the surreal forms that dominate his paintings. Parham’s work is bold and confident, yet has a delicate sensibility that touches you, and for me personally his work never tires. The more I have got to know Parham during his time with the gallery, the more interesting I have found his practice, including discovering his relationship with graffiti. In October 2019 we took his work to The Manchester Contemporary where it received a lot of positive attention. In early lockdown, as we checked in with the many artists we work with I had the opportunity to catch up with Parham, and I was delighted to hear about his recent experiments with animation, a medium he had been thinking about for some time but lockdown had catalysed him turning his attention to. I was amazed at how quickly Parham was mastering animation and working with the moving image, seamlessly bringing together his passion for drawing and painting without compromise, into the digital realm. For me this was another example of Parham’s clear commitment to practice, and demonstrates his approach to applying creative solutions to the challenges that life throws at us, something we might all learn from. When the collection approached us about these commissions, Parham Ghalamdar was an obvious choice for nomination.”

Parham Ghalamdar | Workplace Foundation

Parham Ghalamdar will also be showing his work in a solo exhibition at The Conduit, London, until 16th October 2020.

Parham Ghalamdar – solo exhibition
Now showing
until 16th October 2020
by appointment or to Conduit members