Shezad Dawood Towards the Possible Film

Shezad Dawood's first solo show in a London institution, comprises recently executed light sculptures, an installation of large-scale paintings on textile, and two films, one of which, Towards the Possible Film, gives its title to the exhibition.Many of Dawood's questions and investigations are rooted in his own cultural heritage, life experience, and a deep desire to encourage communication between different cultures, people, and even the past and future. His extensive travels and research, together with his deep interest in the fantastical, unusual and speculative, all vitally feed into some extraordinary episodes and narratives in his films.Towards the Possible Film, 2014, was shot at Legzira beach in Sidi Ifni, Morocco. In a landscape that could well be an alien planet, otherworldly figures appear as if to threaten the peace. Dawood found a deep source of inspiration in the region's history and the many wars fought in the 1950s and '60s between Spain, Morocco and the independent Saharan tribes.Dawood's light sculptures stem from his interest in mysticism. For example, The Black Sun, white-neon circle, is essentially concerned with the mystical transformation of the self as represented by the allegory of the eclipse and the notion of the dark night of the soul. While his installation of large-scale paintings on textiles, that were stitched during the 1970s by women in Pakistan, creates a dialogue between two worlds and two realities, both past and present.Published on the occasion of the exhibition Shezad Dawood: Towards the Possible Film at Parasol unit, London, 4 April - 25 May 2014.