Palestine Poster Art Project 2024
A growing repository of poster art for a liberated Palestine. This work borrows popular chants from the global Palestinian solidarity movements juxtaposed with my own photographs that were created in and around Republic of Ireland where I am currently based.
Build, Balance
2023
Today, the act of creating art feels like a navigation between the arbitrary and the surreal. It is an ongoing conversation between the weight of global crises and the privilege of crafting in peace.
Build, Balance is a multimedia installation which converges elements of the familiar and searches for hope within the threads that bind us together. It weaves a narrative which celebrates the interconnectedness of our shared home, utilising ubiquitous materials such as cinder blocks, glass, wild clay, driftwood, marine plastic, sound and digital imagery.
Build, Balance seeks to carve out a space that gently bears witness to the beauty of everyday moments. It recognises the privilege of witnessing these moments and explores the simple magic woven into the fabric of everyday life.
This work is made in solidarity with the people of Palestine.
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Materials List: Driftwood, cavity blocks, concrete bricks, organic wood, plexiglass, steel pins, pressed organic matter (moth, moss, dead flies, undetermined plant species), wood block, handmade paper, drawing paper, steel clips, steel wire, steel eye hook screws, tubular wood, petri dish, glass, fossilised rocks, seashells (common limpet, auger, common piddock, periwinkle), water, mushroom, crab claws, cuttlefish bone, sea detritus, whale intervertebral disc.
The Bryo Lab
A series of ongoing multimedia works, experiments and observations in collaboration with moss, lichen, fungi, algae and other more-than-human world.
The Strange Strangers
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Queer Mesh and the Strange Stranger is an ongoing research project, guided by the theoretical framework of
queer ecology and ecological thought, that considers the complexity of human
and non-human interrelations.
This project was born out of a desire to
examine the confines of binary thinking, human exceptionalism and the
anthropocentric perspective that frames the Natural world; to imagine an
entangled mesh of all beings, living and non-living.
The mesh implies an intimacy of everything and
everyone, entangled in a messy and fragile web that constitutes strange
strangers. The notion of ‘strange stranger’ refers to non-human critters,
imagined as ambiguous beings that resist binary categorisation. If the mesh was
imagined through the intimacy of the strangest beings which go beyond human
comprehension, then perhaps it can be argued that all sorts of seeming
impossibilities are possible including the queerness of the mesh. In this mesh,
the familiar becomes strange and the strange familiar. To experience it,
intimacy and fluidity are encouraged drawing attention to the overlooked,
peripheral beings like moss and lichen. They amalgamate with other beings and
form clusters of ecosystems that are intertwined on a scale that is both
infinite and infinitesimal. In a way, mimicking the symbiotic relationship that
lichen forges with fungi, algae and beyond.
Queer Mesh and the Strange Stranger is an expanded installation of animate and inanimate materials, found
objects, and scientific equipment. The works are informed by hybrid
methodologies of printmaking and alternative photographic processes, queered
beyond their conventional etiquette. The transmutation of scientific methods
and playful displays are used as tools of subversion to challenge the
anthropocentric lens through which the non-human world is seen. Layers of experimental
processes on paper form uncanny, new hybrid species; defying binary gender and
traditional taxonomy. They are the strange strangers within the queer
mesh.
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Untitled (wood frame plinth 1)
45 x 12 x 16 inches
Organic wood, plexiglass, steel pins, pressed organic matter (moth, moss, dead flies, undetermined plant species), wood block
2022
Embossed
print study no.1 (The Stranger Strangers)
9 x 11.5 inches
Paper, steel clips, steel wire, steel eye hook screws
2022
9 x 11.5 inches
Paper, steel clips, steel wire, steel eye hook screws
2022
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Untitled
(walled plinth) [detail]
35 x 79 x 67 inches
Acrylic box, desecrated wood, glass, wood block, precision knife, dressing forceps, needle holder, painter’s brush, vintage awl, steel pins, water, petri dish, paper, organic matter (desecrated wood, moss, bee, cockchafer, lichen, fungi, undetermined species)
2022
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35 x 79 x 67 inches
Acrylic box, desecrated wood, glass, wood block, precision knife, dressing forceps, needle holder, painter’s brush, vintage awl, steel pins, water, petri dish, paper, organic matter (desecrated wood, moss, bee, cockchafer, lichen, fungi, undetermined species)
2022
Untitled (walled plinth) [detail]
35 x 79 x 67 inches
Acrylic box, desecrated wood, glass, wood block, precision knife, dressing forceps, needle holder, painter’s brush, vintage awl, steel pins, water, petri dish, paper, organic matter (desecrated wood, moss, bee, cockchafer, lichen, fungi, undetermined species)
2022
Untitled
(glass column)
55 x 13 x 14.5 inches
Acrylic box, tubular wood, cockle shells, lichen, sea urchin, fossilised rock, snail shell, organic plant matter (undetermined)
2022
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55 x 13 x 14.5 inches
Acrylic box, tubular wood, cockle shells, lichen, sea urchin, fossilised rock, snail shell, organic plant matter (undetermined)
2022
Untitled (glass column) [details]
55 x 13 x 14.5 inches
Acrylic box, tubular wood, cockle shells, lichen, sea urchin, fossilised rock, snail shell, organic plant matter (undetermined)
2022
Poly Symbiotic Cell
Dimensions variable
Glass, fossilised rocks, seashells (common limpet, auger, common piddock, periwinkle), moss, red wine, water, flies, mushroom, tubular wood, crab claws, petri dish, cuttlefish bone, lichen, paper, wood blocks, sea detritus (undetermined), whelk eggs, whale intervertebral disc, steel pin, stone
2022
[images 1 - 8]
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Untitled
(wood frame plinth 2)
44 x 12 x 24 inches
Whale vertebra, tubular wood, fossilised rock, undetermined sea detritus
2022
44 x 12 x 24 inches
Whale vertebra, tubular wood, fossilised rock, undetermined sea detritus
2022
The Stranger Strangers (triptych)
30 x 44 inches
Drawing paper, steel wire, steel clips, steel eye hook screws
2022
30 x 44 inches
Drawing paper, steel wire, steel clips, steel eye hook screws
2022
Installation views from ‘Meant to Fade’ group exhibition at Laneway Gallery
Installation views from Interim MA Show at Burren College of Art
Curio Box I [mixed media], 2022
Installation views of ‘Curio Box I’, 2022
Basalt and Scoria [sedimentary rocks, moss], 2022
The Strange Strangers study 15 [embossed print], 2022
Installation views and details of ‘Curio Box I’ from Interim MA Show, 2022
Installation views for Salt and Light
Black Matter (collage), 2018
L-R: Archival pigment prints - 20.7 x 14.7cm (each image), Phototex adhesive back canvas print - 100.0 x 141.4cm, Archival matt prints (diptych) - 30.0 x 42.1cm framed in secondhand frame (unique)
L-R: Archival pigment prints - 20.7 x 14.7cm (each image), Phototex adhesive back canvas print - 100.0 x 141.4cm, Archival matt prints (diptych) - 30.0 x 42.1cm framed in secondhand frame (unique)
Darkroom ‘Falls’ (repetition), 2018
Hand printed in darkroom on resin coated paper - 14.22 x 8.89cm each image
Hand printed in darkroom on resin coated paper - 14.22 x 8.89cm each image
Untitled (diptych), 2018
Phototex adhesive back canvas print 42.0 x 59.4cm
Phototex adhesive back canvas print 42.0 x 59.4cm
Untitled (diptych), 2018
Archival pigment prints 32 x 42cm framed in second-hand frames (unique)
Archival pigment prints 32 x 42cm framed in second-hand frames (unique)
Installation views for Labyrinth
Installation view of ‘Labyrinth’ at Free Range, 2016. Digital chromagenic prints - 120 x 80cm, foamex mount with wooden sub-frame
Installation views for Morph
Installation view of ‘Morph’ at Free Range, 2014. Digital chromagenic prints - 76.2 x 50.8cm, aluminium mount in tray frames
Installation view of ‘Morph’ at Free Range, 2014. Digital chromagenic prints - 76.2 x 50.8cm, aluminium mount in tray frames
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Contact
Aster Reem David (b. 1988, Pakistan) [she/he/they] is a multidisciplinary artist from the UK. Their practice is guided by the theoretical frameworks of queer ecology and ecological thought, exploring the complex relationships between the human and more-than-human worlds through a queer lens. Aster employs experimental and hybrid modes of installation, sculpture, printmaking, and alternative photography to create immersive environments that challenge conventional understandings of the natural world.
Aster received a BA in Photographic Arts from the University of Westminster, London and an MA in Art & Ecology from the Burren College of Art, Ireland. Their project ‘Salt and Light’ was published in ‘Disturbed Ecologies: Photography, Geopolitics, and the Northern Landscape in the Era of Environmental Crisis’ and exhibited their graduate work in Cork and Galway in 2023.
They are currently based between the UK and the Republic of Ireland, where they continue to push the boundaries of their practice through reflection and collaboration with the more-than-human world.
Education
2022 MA in Art & Ecology, Burren College of Art, Ireland
2016 BA (Hons) Photography, University of Westminster, London (First Class Honours)
2014 Diploma in Photography, City of Westminster College, London (Distinction)
2011 Film & Darkroom Photography, Central Saint Martins, London
Exhibitions
2023 Build, Balance, 126 Gallery, Galway, Ireland [group]
2023 Meant to Fade, Laneway Gallery, Cork City, Ireland [group]
2022 (is)land, Burren College of Art, Ireland [group]
2018 Salt and Light: a visual discourse on climate change, Brighton [solo]
2016 Labyrinth, Free Range Shows, Old Truman Brewery, London [group]
2014 Morph, Off The Wall, The Terrace 9th Annual Open, Terrace Gallery, London [group]
2014 Morph, Free Range Shows, Old Truman Brewery, London [group]
2014 Morph, no barking art Biennale 'Material World II', Espacio Gallery, London [group]
Books & Publications
2023 Meant to Fade, publication in conjunction with exhibition (print)
2023 Disturbed Ecologies: Photography, Geopolitics, and the Northern Landscape in the Era of Environmental Crisis (print)
2022 Salt and Light photozine, Another Place Press (print)
2020 Salt and Light, Splash & Grab (print)
2020 Let The River Flow issue 01 (print)
2020 31 Days in Transit, Black River issue 01 (digital)
2020 Liquid Memories, Soft Lightning volume 01 (print)
2015 Silent Chaos, No Barking Art magazine (print)
2014 Emma McGuire editorial feature, No Barking Art magazine (print)
2014 Female Photographers Now, No Barking Art magazine (print)
Awards & Nominations
2023 RDS Visual Art Award - longlisted for 2023 Royal Dublin Society visual art award
2020 THELITLIST by authority collective - shortlisted for 2020 list of 30 photographers to watch, exhibit and hire
Artist Talks & Guest Lectures
2023 Artist Talk, Burren College of Art, Ireland
2022 Guest Lecture, Burren College of Art, Ireland
2022 A Woman Walks Alone at Night, With a Camera, in conversation with Ruby Wallis & Phillina Sun, Ireland
2021 Guest Lecture, University of the Arts London
2020 The Sustainable Darkroom residency at Guest Projects in collaboration with London Alternative Photography Collective
Workshops
2022 Anthotype/Alternative Photography, Burren College of Art, Ireland
Online Features & Interviews
2021 Unveild
2021 The Daring
2020 The Daring (essay)
2020 Splash & Grab
2020 Hashtag Photography Magazine
2020 Landartcollective
2020 Black River
2019 Softlightningstudio
2019 tootiredproject featured work on 'depression and mental health'
2016 The Pupil Sphere
© Aster Reem David 2023. All works on this site are copyright of the artist and may not be reproduced in any way without prior written permission from the artist.