Confused yet seduced by the visual appeal of political aesthetics—podiums, flags, microphones, and protocol agreements—I became increasingly aware during the pandemic of how these staged images and words impacted daily life. The works produced during this period reflect both this overwhelming presence and my own effort to keep pace with everyday tasks, using making as a way to measure and structure time.
The exhibition Things and Needs (Hagaat w’ Mehtagaat), Danish’s first solo show at Rita Urso (Artopia), Milan, included machine-stitched tapestries, embossed velvets, and gouache paintings. Craft, often regarded as slow and ornamental, was here reinterpreted as a time-tracking tool, turning labor into a visible record of duration. Large sewn tapestries depict world leaders on podiums, while gouache paintings present composite coats of arms that recall medieval heraldry and iconography.
The Arabic title—taken from a 1993 Egyptian television program hosted by Sherihan—plays on the closeness between the words “things” and “needs,” highlighting both their phonetic roots and their conceptual relationship.