Online Book Launch | Praneet Soi: Anamorphosis

Join a discussion to mark the publication of Anamorphosis, Praneet Soi’s new book co-published by Book Works and The Mosaic Rooms. In this event, Soi brings together practitioners and thinkers involved in education, art and dialogues around social change, who he met with over the course of his time in the West Bank. These dialogues have influenced Soi’s practice, and the work made during his visit and also resulted in ongoing collaborations.

Educationalist Munir Fasheh will articulate his concept of the mujaawarah, which proposes that literacy and knowledge reside in the material knowledge within individuals and community. Curator Yazid Anani will unpack the problematics of representations of the West Bank. Reem Fadda, Director of the Abu Dhabi Cultural Foundation will reflect on her curatorial experiences in the Emirates and of the shows she created such as the 6th Marrakech Biennale (2016) and Tahya Al Quds at the Palestinian Museum in Birzeit (2017). Works from the book are currently on display at the Van Abbe Museum, and the museum’s director, Charles Esche, will talk about steering the museum’s trajectory to explore narratives around decolonization and reimagining political narratives. Soi, together with the book’s graphic designer Michael Kelly from Fraser Muggeridge Studio will discuss the crafting, the visual language and the structure of the book and the problem solving that the collaboration ignited. Their reflections will be followed by a dialogue between the participants, and the audience, moderated by Angelina Radakovic, curator of The Mosaic Rooms.

The book Anamorphosis is an epilogue to Soi’s journey across the Occupied Palestinian Territories and Israel. The trip precedes and forms the basis for Praneet Soi’s exhibition Anamorphosis. Notes from Palestine, Winter in the Kashmir Valley (The Mosaic Rooms, 2019), his first solo exhibition in London. His aim was to experience the region through the prism of the landscape. En route, Soi visited farms, workshops and factories, in order to engage with productivity, entrepreneurship, and minutia of everyday life for people in Palestine. Soon after his return to his Amsterdam studio, in August 2019, India formally annexed Kashmir, prompting reflections on links between the two nations and their internal struggles. This event reinforced the need to include within the fold of the exhibition an installation consisting of work he has been creating with craftsmen in Kashmir since 2012. This material informs the collages that were created within the publication.