Muscle Memory, Syrian Homecomings: Essma Imady

Essma Imady’s multimedia installation, Muscle Memory, Syrian Homecomings, uses her memories of home as a raw material. Syrian born Imady explores how the concept of home is altered by the elements of time and distance, as well as etched away by the forces of war and political climate.

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Imady returned to her home of Damascus in 2018 for the first time since 2011. During her two-week visit, she was perforated by a sense of estrangement. This exhibition exposes how even memories that are buried remain in one’s body, a muscle memory that informs how we interact with the world; even when we no longer identify with those parts of our past.

 

Her installations combine multiple mediums including sculpture and video to create a space that searches for a deeper empathy to counter generalized political narratives and simplified media platforms. She tells personal stories to draw attention to the stories we tell ourselves, how we construct our realities and make sense of trauma. For her these stories begin with how to process the meaninglessness in war and disaster that affect her former home of Syria.

 

Muscle Memory, Syrian Homecomings explores violence; its effect on culture and the many forms it takes in the lives of Syrians, women, and citizens of the world. 

 

Essma Imady is a multi-disciplinary Minnesota based artist. Her work heightens the emotional impact of the viewer in order to create a shared human experience, even when that experience is not their own. Essma has exhibited at Public Functionary, the Soap Factory, Law Warschaw Gallery, Rochester Art Center and Walker Art Center. In 2018 she had a solo exhibition at the Minneapolis Institute of Art. She is a recipient of an Artist On the Verge Fellowship, Jerome Travel and Study Grant, Forecast Public Art Grant and was named City Pages Artist of the Year in 2018.