Interview
Raihan Okr3
Raihan is a nuerodivergent, LGBTQI, outsider artist. with a background in Anthropology, they choose to express the human experience that resides at the core of the subject in a form beyond language. Therefore they use symbols, myths and rituals as a palette, stripping bare the sinews of the word revealing a freedom of expression beyond the boundaries of the page. Raihan's art as laececraft, the Anglo-Saxon word for healing, informed by the works of Burroughs whose book of shadows, the Yage letters, provides a systemic and magickal practice, Burroughs calls ‘the cut-up technique,’ a supernatural technology. The practice consists of elements of zen philosophy, and the re-weaving of reality through cutting up and rearranging: words, pictures or film. Revealing ancestral, voices which speak through the mosaic of creation. Raihan's locus is the agents of deep time and the birth pangs of recreation. The artist is represented by Macabre Gallery.
What is your background and how did you start your journey in the art world?
“I have a background in visual anthropology and as such, I explore my field of research through the medium of form, shape and colour. I'm interested in the intersection of art as a cultural, ritual and value based means of expression.”
What does your work aim to say? Does it comment on any current social or political issues?
“My current work is informed by the environmental disaster of the Anthropocene. I am interested in ideas around human creativity and inventiveness and how we are strategizing to reverse engineer the situation at hand.”
Do you plan your work in advance, or is it improvisation?
“I reference 'Doggerland,' the land bridge that connected England to Europe, a utopian paradise that was submerged due to changes in the earths temperature. I'm interested in how and why that space is arising within our consciousness at this particular time. I am also interested in the de-extinction projects that are bringing back various extinct species in order to save their previous habitat. With the permafrost melting the ice is revealing woolly mammoths by the hundreds, there tusks are a sought after commodity. Yet it is the mammoth that is being revived through deextinction reverse the effects of the melting permafrost their commodified ancestors are unceremoniously being extracted from. And I project into the future when these animals are brought back from extinction, will they be subject to hunting by the wealthy or end up in the factory farms of the West as an exotic delicacy? My process begins with a ritual cleansing, asking for guidance and opening myself up to this maelstrom of information.”
Are there any art world trends you are following?
“I'm liking what is being accomplished with AI currently - Illusionaries at Canary Wharf & also what the band Heilung are doing visually and sonically is very interesting. I enjoy the immersive experience, a space where all my senses are catered for and I enjoy big pieces like Bourgeois Spider. I enjoy that uses the natural world to create something new. I also really like ice age art, cave painting, mammoth ivory sculpture and petroglyphs.”
What process, materials and techniques do you use to create your artwork?
“My work I describe as portable, like the artist's of the ice age, I like to work as as nomadically as possible. Therefore, most of my work is done on the move, so my phone is useful. I also use portable projectors and digital cameras. Anything I can move with and is kind of low -fi, I'm a luddite at heart.”
“My work I describe as portable, like the artist's of the ice age, I like to work as as nomadically as possible.”
What does your art mean to you?
“My art allows me to connect to something deep within our collective unconscious. Moving away form the word has allowed my expression to flow and for the ephemeral to become tangible.”
What’s your favourite artwork and why?
“I love Glenn Brown, they're such a skilled and accomplished artist. His use of non-impasto, impasto is so impressive, his paintings mesmerize me.”
Have you had any noteworthy exhibitions you'd like to share?
“My recent exhibitions include: Glenn Brown at Tate Liverpool; Bourgeois - Maman at Tate Modern; Eliasson - The Weather Project at Tate Modern; YBA at County Hall; Odyssey of a Cockroach - Yoko Ono and Paul McCarthy at The White Cube.”
