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London-based Artist Shezad Dawood exhibits a fantastical sci-fi homage to the late Grammy Award-winning composer Yusef Lateef at The Aga Khan Museum Toronto, Canada.
Shezad Dawood’s Night in the Garden of Love Inspired by and Featuring Yusef Lateef, produced in partnership with Wiels, the Centre for Contemporary Art in Brussels, transports visitors into new and imaginary worlds through a multi-layered experience that promises to electrify the senses.
According to the representative of the Estate of Yusef Lateef, Ayesha Lateef says Night in the Garden of Love “creates a space for people to appreciate the breadth and depth of his extraordinary legacy. It is a legacy of virtuosity and love.”
Dawood’s Work draws on many references past and present, including the late Allāmah, an African-American Muslim musician, composer, and polymath and well as Lateef’s cli-fi novella, Night in the Garden of Love (1988).
Using gardens as a starting point for creative, futuristic, and intercultural conversations, Dawood takes audiences on a multi-sensory journey, using a series of painted textile works by Dawood of real and imagined plants, original artworks by Lateef, and objects from the Museum’s Permanent Collection. Nestled among Dawood’s textiles are costume sculptures designed by London-based fashion label Ahluwalia, which integrates upcycled, repurposed vintage fabrics from Dawood’s textile archive.
No garden is replete without the engagement of olfactory senses either. Working in collaboration with Olivia Bransbourg of boutique perfume label Iconofly, perfumer Nicolas Bonneville, and fragrance house dsm-firmenich, Dawood delights with a distinctive fragrance that features eight middle notes; some are recognizable, such as jasmine, others were crafted using artificial intelligence to represent plants that don’t naturally produce a discernible scent.
“In a way, this exhibition is a dynamic symphony. With objects from the Museum’s Permanent Collection joining the conversation as a juxtaposition between Lateef’s work and my own, it allows visitors to dive into the many flowerings and expressions of gardens throughout history. It is a cross-temporal treasure hunt, embracing the idea that gardens are temporary experiences of paradise. They are hopeful spaces of transcendence, giving us a sense of empathy and sensitivity,” says Dawood.
Using tech, Dawood collaborated with immersive film and digital arts production company UBIK Productions to create a two-player virtual reality environment and a series of Digital Seedbanks — seven algorithmically generated plants responding to a new musical score inspired by Lateef’s Autophysiopsychic method which he claims was performed by several of the late musician’s former collaborators and students.
According to Aga Khan Museum Director Dr Ulrike Al-Khamis, the exhibition unfolds scores and rhythms, the spirit and musicality of Lateef’s ideas and drawings through Dawood’s interpretations – exploring gardens as realms of creation and optimism in the face of the climate crisis.
“Night in the Garden of Love is a true reflection of the unexpected and thought-provoking stories we showcase through the arts at the Museum.The artists’ visionary practices invite us to imagine futuristic worlds where nature has transcended climate change. Through their powerful visions, we are allowed a unique and rare opportunity to turn conversations surrounding our current environmental challenges into hope — perhaps the most important impulse in trying to affect change,” says Al-Khamis.
Al-Khamis says the exhibitionholds an additional layer of meaning as it marks the first time Lateef’s drawings will be exhibited in Canada. Beyond the Gallery, the exhibitionwill extend into the Museum’s programming lineup. A growing schedule of performances and experiences will complement the exhibition — from an ‘autophysiopsychic’ performance to a light show created by OCAD University students under Dawood’s mentorship.
Note from the Editor: The exhibition will be showing at the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto, Canada until 5 May 2024. Featured image of Night in the Garden of Love (VR), 2023. VR environment, duration variable. Produced by and courtesy of UBIK Productions. Co-commissioned by WIELS, Brussels and Aga Khan Museum, Toronto. (Photo Credit: Shezad Dawood).
Shezad Dawood studied at Central St Martin’s, the Royal College of Art and Leeds Metropolitan University in the UK. Dawood is a Senior Research Fellow in Experimental Media at the University of Westminster. He is a multidisciplinary artist who interweaves stories, realities, and symbolism to create richly layered artworks spanning painting, textiles, sculpture, film and digital media.
Yusef Lateef was a Grammy Award-winning composer, performer, recording artist, author, visual artist, educator, and philosopher for more than six decades until passing in 2013. Prolific in American jazz, Lateef went on to introduce instruments and sounds from around the world into his compositions. Notably, Lateef developed a methodology called autophysiopsychic music; what he called a holistic approach to music that centers the spiritual, physical, and emotional self.
