Silence and Dreams 2010

Editor: So, this is "Silence and Dreams," an acrylic on canvas painted by Anima Ehtiat in 2010. I'm struck by its vibrant colours, yet also find it somewhat unsettling – like peering into a half-forgotten memory. What do you see in this piece? Curator: The imagery evokes a very primal state of consciousness for me. Note the floating shapes and biomorphic forms. What symbolic weight do you think those might carry for us? Editor: Well, the rounded forms seem quite organic. Maybe related to the body, or even early life forms. The pale calligraphic marks feel separate, a totally different language almost. Curator: Precisely! Don't they remind you of Paleolithic cave paintings? Scratches holding the history of representation, even a need to conjure and connect. That squiggly line topped with a spiral, that has echoed through different eras... perhaps alluding to similar preoccupations regardless of the separation between us and those who drew them? Editor: You mean like an early symbol re-emerging across time? It's wild to think these motifs are etched in our collective memory somehow. Even that odd centipede-like figure! Curator: Look closer; there's also a deliberate obscuring or blurring, as if that 'memory' is not something that can ever be perfectly re-called, or is constantly being reformed or re-remembered with each pass down through history. And, of course, “silence” would naturally follow as this is non-verbal… the visual representation is an experience of it, an artifact, perhaps. Editor: That makes sense, a fluid sort of historical process where symbols emerge, recede, and take on new shapes. It has made me appreciate how "Silence and Dreams" seems like an artifact from a much deeper cultural well than I first imagined! Curator: Exactly. What starts as abstraction unravels into the concrete connections humans continuously search for across vast cultural and temporal divides.