Born in Azerbaijan and now living in France since 2008, Babi Badalov’s practice explores the complexities and limitations of language, in particular the sociological and geopolitical concerns of the globalised world. At YARAT, the artist is presenting an installation made entirely of existing and newly commissioned textile works, offering a timely observation on the conflicts between Azerbaijan's cultural heritage and the contemporary climate of accelerated capitalist growth within the country. Having spent much of his life migrating between various countries and cultures, Badalov’s work is informed by his own personal experiences of a nomad life that incorporates a complex strategy of cultural identification with ambivalence, the coexistence of contradictions and multiple perspectives.
Using a process akin to automatic writing, Badalov’s urgent and organic text-based works present multiple languages to construct his distinct visual poetry, forming cleverly nuanced slogans and socio-politically charged puns. The exhibition’s title – “ZARAtustra” – is itself a portmanteau of the global high street brand ZARA – synonymous with contemporary ‘fast fashion’ – and the ancient Persian prophet Zarathustra, still a major influence on the history and culture of Azerbaijan today. The title, like the work itself, thus plays within the gaps between contemporary and traditional structures, language and beyond.
Often using fabric as a medium for his work, the installation at YARAT comprises approximately 250 textiles hung in rows suspended from the gallery ceiling. Utilising old sheets, pieces of curtains and found materials, each textile is overlaid with Badalov’s poetic texts. Evoking the production line process of an industrial factory, the immersive installation locates the viewer within the contemporary landscape of fast fashion and mass production, whilst raising issues related to our more traditional and historically rooted constructs of self.
The tour of works begins with textile pieces discussing capitalism and the neo-liberal system, further on merging into the refugee crisis and geopolitical topics. In the central hall, the artist confronts the visitor with orientalist debates, while the third part is devoted to works with spiritual word deconstructions, seemingly suggesting redemption and order in chaos. In between, the tour repeatedly leads to Badalov’s wall-based intervention, in which he explicitly addresses local issues by experimenting with the Azerbaijani language. The exhibition imitates the attempt to structure and classify the world by means of language, such as East/West, material/spiritual, past/present. In the end, however, his expressions escape classification and appropriation, becoming a metaphor for the complexity of reality and the impossibility and futility of its linguistic comprehension.