Naheed Raza is a sculptor and filmmaker whose practice is informed by her background and training in science. Her works are characterised by a sense of fragility, transience and a tactile engagement with materials such as spider’s silk or shifting sand. By experimenting with and depicting these materials, Raza invites us to consider both their physical properties and their metaphorical possibilities.
FOR TOMORROW NEVER KNOWS
Naheed Raza’s proposal looks at Cryonics, the practice of preserving humans and animals at low temperatures after their ‘death’ in the hope that they may one day be reanimated. Since its ‘invention’ in the early 1960’s over 200 people have undergone the procedure motivated by the belief that humans may one day conquer the deleterious effects of time and discover the secret to eternity which will enable them to reawaken in the future, free from the ageing process, in good health and with their memories and identities intact. The modern era of cryonics began with Robert Ettinger, an American Physics teacher who proposed the idea in his book ‘The Prospect of Immortality’ on the basis of extrapolation from then current technologies. Raza’s study, based on a trip to Michigan in 2011, fuses extracts from interviews with Cryonics members and material shot at the Cryonics Institute to explore the scientific optimism underpinning this quest to do away with the ultimate finality.
Raza studied medicine and natural sciences at Oxford University before going on to study for a BA in Fine Art at Chelsea School of Art and then graduating with an MA from the Slade School of Art in 2007. She has been Artist in Residence in the Maths Department at UCL and the recipient of a Wellcome Trust Arts Award. Her recent exhibitions include solo shows at the Royal Institution of Great Britain, Lismore Castle Arts and Bloomberg SPACE, and screenings at the Centre for Contemporary Art, Glasgow and Edinburgh Film Festival.
Production still from Frozen in Time, 2012 Naheed Raza
Naheed Raza, 2011
Sand, 2010. Super 16mm film. 9 minutes 27 seconds. Colour, silent.
Sand, 2010. Still from Super 16mm film.
Silk, 2009. 16mm film. 7 minutes 15 seconds. Colour, silent.
Silk, 2009. Still from 16mm film.
All works courtesy the artist.