Aya Haidar: Wish You Were Here

Aya Haidar, Wish You Were Here (Black and White) (2017) Embroidery on postcards, Sizes variable. Courtesy of the artist.

Courtesy of the artist.

This edition of Wish You Were Here was produced exclusively for the black and white issue of Tribe. The genesis of this work stems from the broader series which began as a collection of 100 used postcards from across Europe, each one doctored with hand- embroidery. The subtle interventions reflect social and political realities which would virtually never make their way onto a postcard.

Postcards serve to highlight the beauty of a city or landscape yet never seem to present the whole reality. Their composition is so well framed that the selection of embroidered postcards offered here paints a more accurate picture of the current socio-political contexts: migrant boats making their way to shore; a church adorned with a Muslim crescent; Northampton cathedral doctored with an embroidered hoisted white flag of surrender; a group of protesters encircling a Spanish amphitheater; and a garden square in Paris with refugee tents erected across the lawn.

The Title, Wish You Were Here, highlights the link that postcards have to ‘home’ or a sense of ‘longing for home,’ where the irony lies within the stark reality of what is being represented.

Haider contemplated a foundation course at Chelsea College of Art and Design, London and later graduated with a BA in Fine Arts from the Slade School of Fine Art, London where she also completed an exchange program at the School of the Art Institute, Chicago. Following this, she completed an Msc in NGOs and Development with Merit from the London School of Economics and Political Science. Her most recent solo exhibitions, titled Wish You Were Here (2017) was exhibited at Athr gallery in Jeddah and Art Berlin Contemporary, preceded by Year of Issue (2014) and Behind Closed Doors (2011) at the New Art Exchange, Nottingham and Bischoff Weiss Gallery, London, respectively. She has participated in various international art fairs, namely ABC Berlin (2016), Abu Dhabi Art (2016, 2015), FIAC (2009), Art Dubai (2016, 2015, 2013, 2012,2011), MENASA (2013) and Art Istanbul (2013).