Artistic Exodus

Achia Anzi, an Israeli artist who lives and works in New Delhi, presents a new body of works at a show titled Land of Nod. On display are creations in mixed media, installations, sculptures and video works, that explore his experience with migration and its impact on one’s perception of time and space. The artist attempts to portray the crisis his home country is constantly experiencing, as well as his own feelings. Anzi uses several scrap materials in his sculptures and installations to convey his pain, destruction and sense of being dislodged. Talking about the significance of the show’s title, he says, ‘the eternal immigrant is swept into a twilight zone: the sleepy zone of dreams, the in-between space of migration’.

5 Questions with the artist, Achia Anzi

1. Artistic Motivations “Honestly, I’m not really sure. Art-making doesn’t really have a motivation beyond itself. It becomes a second nature, a way of seeing the world or maybe even a way of being in the world. The practice of art is such that when you ask for a reason or purpose you might find yourself with no solid ground.”
2. Inspirations “Many things. I’m inspired by books and objects, artworks and people, ideas and feelings. Inspiration for me is a tuning, a moment of grace in which the world unfolds itself and manifests the aesthetic and conceptual possibilities which are hidden in it.”
3. On the wall at home “It keeps on changing all the time…”
4. Concerns that find a place in your art “The Israeli poetess Rachel wrote in one of her famous poems: ‘only about myself I could speak. My world is narrow as the world of an ant’.”
5. If you weren’t an artist, you would be… “A teacher.”

Land of Nod is on display at Threshold Art Gallery, New Delhi (C 221, Sarvodaya Enclave) until February 24, 2015.