FAMILY WELDING 2016

This arresting image, “Family Welding”, by Babak-Matveev made in 2014, grabs you and throws you into a vividly coloured, theatrical argument. Imagine the artist staging this scene, thinking about the dynamic between these two figures. One, young, with an axe; the other, older, with a knife. They are posed against a painted backdrop, a crude idyll of swans and rainbow skies, that only heightens the tension. I wonder what Babak-Matveev was thinking about when they set this up? Maybe the family is welding something together through conflict, a messy, painful, but ultimately necessary process? This photograph reminds me that art-making, like life, is rarely neat or predictable. It’s in these moments of struggle and uncertainty that something truly unique and powerful can emerge. We’re all in conversation with one another, wrestling with similar themes and ideas, trying to make sense of the world in our own way.