shireen Talhouni
Shireen worked as an Architect in London for a number of years before deciding in 2012 to retrain in contemporary Dance at the Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance. in 2013 she moved back to her city amman where she currently resides.
Artist statement
my motive for making work is to better understand the lived experience of being human. due to my background in architecture, I cannot reflect on the body without considering its relationship to the space around it both physically and phenomenologically.
i consider Improvisation in its understanding within the context of tarab an important creative tool to generate movement material and atmospheres. My working process emulates what I grew up experiencing as typical of Amman which means I have an inclination to utilise the low tech, the everyday, and the as found as methods of making.
as a citizen of a former british mandate who has received a British education and lived in London for a long time I do reflect on where my work sits within the post colonial narrative. how this has shaped my aesthetic sensibilities and artistic values is something that I reflect on in my practice.
when creating in Amman there is a need to think outside the box and to problem solve due to lack of resources. as a result It is instinctive to approach projects looking for shortcuts and expediency in executing tasks. I make work because I like solving problems with my body and cannot think of a place that makes me feel the poetry of doing so more than amman.