Artist statement
Rabab Ghazoul is a visual artist whose practice draws upon a range of media to explore our negotiations and constructions of the political. Part social observation, part investigation into the realm of public narrative, her work often sees her referencing or re-staging chosen ‘texts’ – from news media footage to an existing art work – by way of exploring our relationship to power, and the coerced and de-stabilised nature of our affiliations. Born and part raised in the Middle East, her experience of dual cultures informs an ongoing interest in belonging and identity, but often at their point of fragmentation or dissolution. In this sense, her chosen context is less the culture of home, and more the ever present effects – or ‘home’ - of late capitalist culture, through which we continue to rehearse our prescribed and ritualistic movements.
Born in Mosul, Iraq, she currently lives and works in Cardiff, Wales.
Qualifications and training
- 2009 Fine Art, UWIC, Cardiff
- 1997 Postgraduate Diploma, Istituto de Art, Scenica, Italy
- 1992 BA Hons Drama, University of Wales, Aberystwyth, Wales
Solo exhibitions
- 2009 Mao-Hope March Revisited, g39, Cardiff
- 2008 Can't Keep Up With Keeping You Down, Chapter Arts Centre & Pontcanna Fields Allotments, Cardiff
- 2004 Where his hands decay, mine begin, BHAC Gallery, Cardiff
Group exhibitions
- 2012 Welsh Artist of the Year, St Davids Hall, Cardiff
- 2011 Mostyn Open 2011, Oriel Mostyn, Llandudno
- 2011 Make Room, Milkwood Gallery, Cardiff
- 2011 Ffilm 2, Glynn Vivian, Swansea
- 2010 After The End, Elysium Gallery, Swansea
- 2009 State of the Estate, Penpont manor and grounds, Brecon, Powys
- 2009 My Place, Oriel Myrddin Gallery, Camarthen
- 2008 Build it and they will come, g39 Gallery, Cardiff
- 2008 In The Space That Is Left, St Davids Hall, Cardiff
- 2008 Me v U, Oriel Davies, Newtown, Wales
- 2007 The Suitcase Project, The Old Library, Cardiff
- 2007 The Suitcase Project, Beaver Arts, Copenhagen, Denmark
- 2007 The Edible Map, Gresol Festival of Art, Girona, Spain
- 2006 Paradise: A Step To The Left, Tactile Bosch Gallery, Cardiff
- 2005 On Leaving And Arriving, g39 Gallery, Cardiff
- 2005 Insomnia, Bargehouse, London
Live/Performance
- 2002 Autumn Etude, Experimentica, Cardiff, Wales
Competitions, prizes and awards
- 2005 Creative Wales Award, Arts Council of Wales
