asmaa al-issa

Quiet exhibition teeters between nostalgia, melancholy and hope.

by

Urban life often propels us to lose ourselves within its vibrant hustle. We are drawn to the noise, the constant connectivity and the seductive consumer offerings. Simply put, we attune to the pulse of the city – but at what cost?

That’s a question Iraqi-born artist asmaa al-issa explores in bab el-soosa | باب السوسة, a quietly intriguing exhibition at the Esker Foundation in Calgary. Born in 1991, al-issa moved to Calgary with her family in 2001. She studied fine arts at the University of Calgary, and then earned a master’s degree from Simon Fraser University.

Her installation, on view until Oct. 15, offers a dioramic glimpse into nature and civilization that teeters somewhere between nostalgia, melancholy and hope. Created specifically for the gallery’s street-level window space, the work was inspired by the Inglewood neighbourhood, where the gallery is located, as well as memories and stories of Iraq.

Inglewood, Calgary’s oldest community, boasts an array of eclectic ventures – specialty boutiques, live music venues, craft breweries and historic sites, including Fort Calgary. Situated at the confluence of two rivers, the Elbow and the Bow, the area was first occupied by the Blackfoot Nation.

The entwined histories of land and humanity seem particularly significant here, not only because al-issa pays homage to them, but also by the ways she connects them to a faraway land, a beautiful place ravaged by war, industrial development and colonial history. 

She collected natural materials like leaves, grasses, pinecones and flower pods, arranging them on 24 plaster tiles on the floor in ways that call to mind natural history displays, as well as delicately rendered collages or maps.

Framing the plaster tiles is a border made from raspberries that resembles industrial foam. Their bright pink colour is a striking juxtaposition with other elements. Contrasts between nature and human technology are central to the work. Burned wood transforms into a drawing tool and cultural objects like sculptures and buildings are built using plaster, a paste made from gypsum, water and sand. 

Looking at the work from the west, one sees a sepia photograph placed midway up the wall. A lone figure walks along a path surrounded by lush palm leaves. The sepia tones give it warmth, but also evoke an earlier time.

Sprawling out from the photo’s edges is a charcoal drawing that renders in almost obsessive detail a forest of lush palm trees. The path in the photograph extends down through this drawing to the tiles on the floor.

This is a poetic and inviting space that reminds viewers of nature’s abundance, protectiveness and beauty. However, we are also asked to think about its loss. A blade of brown grass becomes a memento mori, a reminder of the inevitability of death.

While not explicit in the work, Iraq suffered the loss of many of its date palms during the Iran-Iraq War, from 1980 to 1988. The terrible destruction transformed the region’s ecology and disrupted a way of life based on harvesting the tree’s fruit while growing other crops in its shade and making furniture with its leaves. 

The poetics of place is highlighted in a text cited by al-issa, Before Basra’s Ruin: Biography of water and date palms, by Taleb Abdul-Aziz. An influence on her work, it describes the palm forests. “Red water and red sun dissolve behind green branches, the earth moist with water from the shore, you hear its joy between your footsteps, perfumed air surrounds you,” al-issa’s rough translation reads. 

Walking home, I notice stones, grasses and scattered twigs. Water rushes down the river, the birds sing mysterious songs and floral scents permeate the air. Grief and joy wash over me, momentarily, as I watch the intensely orange sun set over the mountains. ■

asmaa al-issa: bab el-soosa | باب السوسة at the Esker Foundation in Calgary from June 26 to Oct. 15, 2023.

Correction July 6, 2023, 12:47 p.m. An earlier version of this article misstated details about the work. The pink material that frames tiles on the floor was made from raspberries not industrial foam. The post has been updated to reflect this. 

PS: Worried you missed something? See previous Galleries West stories here or sign up for our free biweekly newsletter.

Esker Foundation.jpg

Esker Foundation

444-1011 9 Avenue SE, Calgary, Alberta T2G 0H7

403-930-2490

please enable javascript to view

Visit Website

Wed to Fri 11 am - 6 pm; Sat/Sun noon - 5 pm