The Fourth Wall is pleased to present So Far Away, an exhibition of new work by Gregory Rick and Shirin Towfiq.  Their unique backgrounds  bring into dialogue a history of violence and its aftermath.

Gregory Rick's paintings reflect on the tradition of resistance, confronting personal trauma, and the absurdity of violence, while Shirin Towfiq’s work turns to the Iranian diaspora and the experience of being a second-generation refugee searching for a relation to an inaccessible homeland. Together, the exhibition asks how histories of conflict endure in the body, in memory, and through what is inherited.

Rick explains, "For every hardship I have endured, my art has grown with me. My father went to prison for murder when I was eight years old. Although losing my dad was rough, him giving me two books—one on history and one on art—started my infatuation with both, and serves as a means of connection with my pops. Similarly, art was a bastion of light after I returned from Iraq, helping me deal with my guilt and trauma about the war." 

Shirin Towfiq is an interdisciplinary artist working with an emphasis on installation, sculptural photography, textiles, sound, and printmaking. She explores the in-betweenness she experiences as a second-generation, Iranian refugee. Growing up, her understanding of her heritage was shaped by the stories, memories, and objects of her family. Through embroidery, patchwork, and digital prints on gauze and other materials,  Towfiq rethinks how Persian folk art, lore, and daily traditions express the emotional complexity of belonging to multiple identities and places.

Towfiq states, “The biggest drive for my practice is to remember and reflect on refugee and migrant stories which are often lost, forgotten, and not archived. I am interested in how the traumas of having to leave a homeland continue to affect a family for generations, and I am compelled to confront this history and the generational traumas that stem from this past. I want to rethink our relationships with our families and histories while reimagining a new future for displaced communities.”