Fronton, 2026
Metallic installation
4 m x 165 cm
This installation draws on a vernacular architectural tradition in which the triangular pediment beneath the roof of a house is decorated with ornamental metalwork. In rural and suburban contexts, such façades operate as subtle visual markers shaped by local craft traditions, repetition, and everyday aesthetic conventions. The architectural form of the pediment functions as the structural framework of the work. Metallic palms, flowers, stars, and abstract elements are arranged into symmetrical compositions informed by Azerbaijani decorative and applied arts – including carpet ornamentation, carving, and metalwork – as well as architectural influences of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Unlike monumental or academic architecture, this form of ornamentation exists within a vernacular logic: it is produced by local craftsmen, often without preparatory drawings, guided by intuition, visual memory, and collectively shared patterns.
The ornamental language of flowers, stars, and symmetry has traditionally been associated with notions of order, care, and domestic stability. Within this visual system, decoration functions not merely as embellishment, but as a means of structuring and stabilizing the domestic environment. Within this established framework, the work introduces a number of ordinary household objects. Commonly present in domestic settings, these objects carry meanings that are contingent and context-dependent. When integrated into the decorative composition, they subtly shift the reading of the façade, introducing an undercurrent of tension within an otherwise balanced and harmonious structure.
All elements are rendered in the same grey metallic material and reduced in scale, allowing them to visually merge with the surrounding ornament rather than assert dominance. This strategy reflects the ways in which certain forms of violence can remain concealed – embedded within everyday environments, normalized through repetition, and absorbed into the visual background of domestic life.