In this video interview, artist Abbas Akhavan walks Anthony Downey through his exhibition Study of a Garden. Produced during a ten-week residency hosted by the Delfina Foundation in London, and in direct response to the Foundation’s adjacent and soon-to-be renovated space at 31 Catherine Place, the exhibition staged a series of tableaux that placed external elements – creeping ivy, garden plants, and soil – throughout the building. References to landscape and nature abound in this installation as does the suggestion of latent traumas and submerged narratives. Born in Tehran, Akhavan has been living in Canada since 1992. Study for a Garden was the artist’s first solo exhibition in the UK.

Abbas Akhavan in conversation with Anthony Downey

'Study for a Garden', exhibition at Delfina Foundation, 2013

11 mins 01 secs

Abbas Akhavan is an artist whose work has been exhibited in galleries such as Vancouver Art Gallery and Artspeak (Canada), Kunsten Museum of Modern Art (Denmark), Le Printemps de Septembre a Toulouse (France), Belvedere Museum (Austria) and The Darling Foundry (Canada). He is represented by The Third Line (Dubai). Abbas was previously a resident artist at A.i.R. Dubai, a residency partnership between Art Dubai, Tashkeel, and The Dubai Culture & Arts Authority.