Bibi Manavi is a Paris-based multi-disciplinary artist. Her practice focuses on accessing memory through microscopic observation  and preservation of disappearing flora , by means of sculpture and photography.  She has exhibited her work throughout France, the U.K. and Italy. 

 

Manavi graduated from Central Saint Martins, London in 2015.  In 2016, her research on Persian ornamental techniques led her to undergo an apprenticeship training in the traditional craft of Aineh-Kari (mirror mosaics) in Shiraz. She has since participated in various residencies which include: the 100ECS (Etablissement Culturel Solidaire) residency in Paris, 2019; and the Bikini Residency in Lake Como, 2017. She will be attending the LabVerde residency program in the Brazilian Amazon in Summer 2021.( waiting for this verification).

 

The Formation Measure series consists of both sculptures and photographs. Manavi’s practice leads her to various sites where she collects plant samples to access the flora’s memory within specific environments. Her research extends from the highlands of the Alborz and Zagros mountain ranges, to European National reserves and the Amazon basin. Through these expeditions with biologists, she gatherers data which  become the basis of her works. 

 

Through a process of microscopic observation and archiving, she produces renderings of the flora’s cellular patterns. By analyzing the tree or plant’s structures through a microscope, she employs a method of encapsulating and reflecting their formation.  

 

Annual rings and cellular compositions taken from specific tree samples are enlarged in varying scales,recreated in mirror then carved into wood. In other cases, Manavi approaches memory through the magnifying glass of dendrochronology (the scientific method of dating tree rings to the exact year they were formed) in this era of ecological mutation. 

 

Manavi’s works seek to preserve the memory of trees, under the assumption that if one carves tree rings and delves into its memory, wrinkles, and history, then the possibilities of interpreting the imperceptible materialize. She views mirror as a lens in which the interior and exterior dissolve into a liminal space. The reflections in her works juxtapose the pastness of the imbued memory with the presentness of its viewing, revealing a festival of cellular connections.

EXPOSITION SELECTIONEE

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FRAC

'Mont Analogue' 

 Champagne-Ardenne France 2020

 (repoussé à 2022)

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Grosvenor  House 

 ‘In the memory of the almond tree’ 

 Londres Royaume-Uni  2019

 

Le 100 ECS ‘Im-nature’ 

paris France 2019

 

The Eclectic studio ‘Formation measure’

Paris France 2018

 

 Bikini Art Residency ‘reflective Movement’

Lac de Côme Italie 2017

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 Les Jardins D’Artois   ‘Au haras d’Andromède'

Paris France 2016

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Central Saint Martins ‘Escapist measures'

Londres Royaume-Uni 2015

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 Ateliers de Sèvres ‘In search of one'

Paris France 2012 

 

Galerie Nikki Diana Marquardt  'ISP' 

Paris France 2010

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RÉSIDENCE 

 Labverde

Manaus Brésil  2020

(repoussé à 2022)

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 Le 100ecs - Établissement culturel solidaire

Paris France 2019

 

Etude de ‘Aineh- Kari’* mirror mosaic

Shiraz Iran 2018

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 Bikini Art Residency 

Lac de Côme Italie 2017