Interview: Huma Bhabha by Sasha Lee on beautiful decay

Huma Bhabha is not unlike a medieval alchemist, transmuting discarded materials into works of art?morphing civilization?s dusty detritus into works of stunning beauty. They freely collapse ideological mores, the annals of history, contemporary art, yet transcend concretized fact or fiction. Instead, they resurrect their charred faces, standing as relics from a near distant future, or war-ravaged effigies to a post-apocalyptic past. This practice of temporal and physical shape-shifting seems to be both esoteric and playful at once?Bhabha notes that ?turning lead into gold, or at least trying?is more interesting than just using gold.? Her visceral effigies are perhaps best described as ?anti-monuments;? her works, in their materiality, do not desire permanence?rather, Bhabha formalizes their very transience through her use of ephemeral, corruptible and humble materials.