Jamil Yamani: Family/Familiar

30 September – 1 November 2008

Jamil Yamani‘s Family/Familiar involves videos and photographs centering around a large industrial sculpture in which a video projector is embedded. The videos and photographs depict scenes of Yamani’s family members preparing for religious rituals within their domestic spaces. In following these everyday moments, the beauty of its ordinariness will be brought to light. Yamani’s observations through the video camera are shaded by the artist’s negotiation of a personal crossroads, as he attempts to reconcile his love for his family members and acceptance of their practices whilst staying committed to his own choices.

While Family/Familiar is a personal encounter with Yamani’s family, it will also delve into complex issues affecting the community at large. The artist points to experiences of exclusion, racism and misrepresentation.

Jamil Yamani works mainly in the area of time-based art but was originally trained as a painter in Austria. He is currently the recipient of the RIPE: Art & Australia/ANZ Private Bank Contemporary Art Award, an award which commissioned the sculptural component of Family/Familiar. Yamani completed a Masters of Fine Arts in Video Production from the College of Fine Arts, University of New South Wales where he also obtained his undergraduate degree. By 2003, he had been awarded the Western Sydney Artists Fellowship from Arts NSW and was earmarked as a finalist for the prestigious Helen Lempriere Travelling Scholarship. To date, his work has been exhibited at a wide range of cultural institutions from Casula Powerhouse, Sydney to the Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts, Perth. He has exhibited internationally in New York, USA, Vancouver, Canada and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Santiago, Chile.