Alexandra (Rex) Delafkaran

Lives and works in Washington D.C., DC, USA

Artist statement

The foundation of my practice is rooted in methods and acts of translation to discover hybrid forms and functions, abstract languages, and explore narratives of Iranian, American and queer identities, real and invented. Through frameworks of hybridity and simultaneousness, my work translates ideas physically through live performance, multimedia documentation, ceramic, sculpture and dance. I am reconsidering the literal and cultural functions of objects and bodies. Through the lens of identity I highlight the implicit failures in handmade objects, functional ready-made objects, and the language of dance. When deployed in concert these failures form questions and metaphors. From the tensions between objects like cinder blocks and crafted ceramic vessels, or a ceramic dildo alongside an imaginary flag, the question that arises is the aim. My practice settles into divergence long enough to make evident the intertwining of identity, utility and legibility. I visualize and embody interdisciplinary language, to investigate humor, formal relationships, and discomfort in the results. In what ways do we translate our personal and historical archives into our bodies, and in what ways do haptic translations deepen and hybridize existing knowledge? Reconciling and constructing personal identity challenges notions of authenticity and cultural failure, and affects the understanding of legibility. I am interested in what languages and materials we have at our disposal to make meaning....

Artwork