Candice Dehnavi

My practice has evolved in exploring the distance of cultural familiarity: the other within and given body through recreated memories. Memories of an Iranian-English upbringing find themselves exaggerated through dreamlike imagery that communicates hazily remembered experiences and stories. My work samples disparate elements from a personal history of detachment, and through the lens of absurdity, presents a comically exaggerated visual space into which one can insert their own narrative meaning. It transverses the dreamlike nature of formative experiential recollection to a physical world of representation.

Each piece could exist in isolation, but there’s a thematic linearity that runs throughout; my wider practice is an act of cohesive world building. It often assumes a childlike demeanour, using comedy and play to hide deeper issues: intersectional identity politics, cultural estrangement, gender identity and the reflective doubt of self-image.