Statement / Bio
Meggy Rustamova’s practice involves films and installations that articulate images, gestures, and sounds and often bear a performative nature. Concerned with the relations between individual and collective memory, language and human behavior, her works look for ways to translate contemporary social issues. This photographic WORK hard and Be NICE is a pointed commentary on displacement, site, and race. Employing the language of a candid tourist photograph, Rustamova captures a wealth of socio-political content in a (seemingly) banal cafe scene. This work was part of a body of work realized during her residency at RU in 2018 and was shown in the group exhibition Mono Aware curated by Eric Sutphin at Realty Collective in Redhook.
2018 RU Alum Meggy Rustamova (°1985) was born in Tbilisi, Georgia. She lives and works in Brussels, Belgium. While never referring explicitly to her origins, themes such as language, identity, and displacement are central to Rustamova’s work. She approaches these subjects through performances, photography, sound installations or video. Her films have been screened in festivals such as Triënnale Duffel, Oberhausen Short Film Festival, Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival, International Film Festival Rotterdam and Kasseler Dokfest. She has exhibited at S.M.A.K., Ghent (BE), Argos, Brussels, Centre Pompidou, Brussels, Le Musée de la Photographie, Charleroi, Biënnale van de Schilderkunst , Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens, Deurle; Un|settled, KAAP, Raversyde, Oostende De Brakke Grond, Amsterdam, Beursschouwburg and Bureau des Réalités (Brussels). Her work is part of the permanent collections at S.M.A.K. (Ghent) Argos Centre for Media and Art (Brussels) Belfius Art Collection (Brussels), University College (Ghent)
Artist website: www.meggyrustamova.com