OPEN STUDIO: Preparation/Termination

by Farhana Jacobs

27 - 28 March and 30 - 31 March, 10AM - 12PM

You are warmly invited to my open studio, where I will be sharing work-in-progress from my MAFA exhibition, Preparation/Termination.

My current practice investigates "minor transgressions"—the seemingly small, often sanctioned acts of violation that train female bodies into compliance. Drawing on personal and familial archives, I am developing an immersive installation that includes painting, video, and a corridor of suspended white sheets washed in rosewater and camphor. This work traces the uncanny resonance between Islamic bridal preparation and burial rites, asking how a lifetime of small violences can become a slow, fragrant preparation for social death.

In the studio you will find:

• Paintings exploring the archetypes of maiden, bride, and ancestor

• Video documentation of a ritual washing/unwrapping

• White cloth and objects from my mother's home; a collection of white acquired over many years, a quiet, compulsive ritual I have come to understand as her way of managing anxiety and rehearsing loss

• Works-in-progress for the installation, including works on paper and canvas

My methodology is one of soft rebellion—not spectacle, but slow, patient unwrapping. 

The work asks: 

What does it mean to return to vulnerability as a form of strength? 

How do we unlearn the freezing that transgression teaches?

I would value your engagement, questions, and conversations as I shape this work toward its final form.