OMAR BADRIN / FABRICating Identity

 February 19 to March 26, 2016

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Omar Badrin "C.F.A."

Omar Badrin "C.F.A."

The New Gallery is pleased to present "FABRICating Identity" by Omar Badrin

Opening reception is Friday, February 19 at 8:00 PM. Admission is free and all are welcome.

"FABRICating Identity" is an exhibition of works by Omar Badrin. His practice has consistently revolved around the construction of identity. More recently, he has started to look at the topic through the lens of transracial adoption. Badrin’s work explores the racial and cultural dynamics of his personal upbringing as a visual minority who was born in Malaysia, adopted by a white parent, and raised in the mostly racially homogenous province of Newfoundland.

The materials and medium that Badrin explores are meant to signify cultural and family traditions. While the industrial fishing twines used in his work reflect his adopted culture, Badrin’s use of the medium of crochet is not only a signifier for the province but also of family history: at first, the use of crochet was a way of trying to fit in and belong within Newfoundland culture. However, upon reflection and after accepting that he would never feel like he belonged, his approach changed. Badrin began to make grotesque masks that reveal rather than hide the feelings of Otherness he felt from growing up in a place where he did not look like the people who surrounded him.

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Visit http://www.thenewgallery.org/fabricating-identity/ to read Ian Carr-Harris’ exhibition essay and find out more.