Hanif Janmohamed (b. 1958)
what is this? 2024. 96″ x 96″
Satellite and Medical Imaging, face-mounted digital prints on 1/2″ thick acrylic panel, vinyl and dry-transfer wall applications.
Commissioned by Deloitte Greenhouse, Toronto
what is this?
This is a multi-panel art installation commissioned by The Deloitte Greenhouse in Toronto.
The Greenhouse leverages behavioural science, analytics, technology, and facilitation to offer innovative programming that helps project teams tackle complex challenges. Its immersive environments are designed to re-examine conventional thinking, spur creativity, and foster breakthrough solutions. This new artwork aims to catalyze participant engagement, and it reflects the Greenhouse’s ethos.
We all have two sides of ourselves –
what we are for others and what we are for ourselves.
For others, we are a person –
for ourselves, we are space for the world.
Richard Long.
The installation, part of the artist’s Brain Terrains series, explores notions of self and identity through the overlapping domains of micro (human body) and macro (planetary body). The installation consists of 10 face-mounted acrylic wall panels that invite viewers to reflect on the construct of an Interstitial Self as a composite of personal and external influences.
In merging medical and satellite imagery, the artwork highlights the interconnectedness of the human and planetary bodies, locating the Self somewhere and nowhere along the spectrum of our interior and exterior domains. The work encourages viewers to reimagine their place in the world and question their relationship with their shifting identities.
Central to this artwork, and the title of the piece, is the Zen Koan “What is this?” Koans are designed to provoke deeper thought and insight by challenging conventional thinking. Incorporating the Zen Koan What is This? creates a sandbox for curiosity and enquiry. The question invites viewers to contemplate the nature of perception and encourages continuously renewed wonder. This reflective process aligns with Deloitte Greenhouse’s goal of re-examining established perspectives to foster innovative thinking.
…
Hanif Janmohamed is a visual artist whose creative practice manifests in art commissions, design initiatives and public engagement experiences. His work has been exhibited at leading cultural institutions including MOCA-LA, The AGO, The Milan Triennale, Vitra, and The Design Museum.
Installation view
Installation view – close up
Artwork Description
The installation is part of the artist’s ongoing Brain Terrains series, a body of work that explores the construct of Self and Identity. The series explores this terrain through blended compositions of medical and satellite imagery – the two bodies (human and planetary) of our common individual experiences.
This commission for Deloitte Greenhouse is a large-scale wall installation in a space dedicated to working sessions of the Greenhouse program. It is composed of ten floating panels of stylized medical and satellite imagery. The images are face-mounted onto 1/2″ thick acrylic panels over a recessed subframe applied to a matte wall graphic. The combination of technologically mediated scans of our interiority and exteriority explores the overlapping terrains of the Self.
The satellite images are sourced from NASA’s Earth Observatory project and the medical imagery is drawn from resources in the public domain.
Key Themes
The primary objectives of this artwork are to prime participants for reflecting on the shared global human experience, to reframe conventional relationships of Self and Other, and to reconsider personal experiences of interiority and exteriority. The work engages viewers in a series of thematic explorations:
- Identity as a Construct:
Identity as a dynamic process continuously reshaped by our internal and external experiences. Are we constructs of agreements? - Interconnectedness:
The visual fusion of medical and satellite imagery exposes the overlapping domains of human experience. Is the Self an element of a porous fabric? - Duality:
Inner/outer, self/other, male/female… shifting places within a realm of dualities. As reflected in Richard Long’s quote, is our relationship with duality defining? - The Hyperobject:
Timothy Morton’s concept of hyperobjects – “massively distributed in time and space…that outlast.. and out-scale me in the here and now” – helps us reframe the human context. Is the planet a massively interconnected living entity? A hyperobject? - Recursion:
The recursive patterns seen at different scales—cellular to planetary—highlight the self-similar nature of existence. Are we elements in a field of patterns? - The Temporal Nature of Self:
The artwork explores interstitial spaces and the Self as a temporal construct. Is the Self based in time?
The Panels
Satellite Image references (Sources: NASA Earth Observatory, NASA Visible Earth):
| Panel 1: Fall Snow in Siberia | Panel 2: Shanghai At Night | Panel 3: Record Rainfall Floods Midwest | Panel 4: London at Night | Panel 5: Paris at Night | Panel 6: Flooded Rice Fields in Louisiana | Panel 7: The Pearl – Qatar | Panel 8: Folded Rocks of Northwest Iran | Panel 9: Toronto at Night (Source: Roscosmos, Oleg Kononenko) | Panel 10: A Swirl of Clouds over the Pacific |
About the Artist
Hanif Janmohamed,
Self-Portrait with Glasses. 2014.
30″ x 30″ Mixed media shadow box.
Hanif Janmohamed is a visual artist and designer. His award-winning works combine poetic vision and artistic practice, with design thinking and an enterprise mind – ideas, projects, and ventures grow in this terrain, rich with opportunity and possibility.
Hanif’s South-Asian heritage, African roots, European education and North American life experience manifest in a pluralist worldview and an eclectic creative engagement. He studied visual arts at the San Francisco Art Institute and Simon Fraser University. Hanif has a Master’s degree with distinction in Industrial Design, from the Domus Academy, Milan and is currently based in Vancouver, Canada.
Project History
Hanif Janmohamed,
Oh, so fracked! 2017
An early study for a multi-panel wall installation from the Brain Terrains series
Hanif Janmohamed has exhibited large-scale public engagement works at leading cultural institutions internationally. His design work for clients has been exhibited at MOCA-LA, The Milan Triennale, The Design Museum, The Vitra Museum, The National Building Museum and The Corcoran. His visual art and public engagement projects have been exhibited at The Art Gallery of Ontario, The Vancouver Art Gallery, The Surrey Art Gallery and independent galleries including Galleria Bianca Pilat, Milan, Museo Nuova Era, Bari and the TAG Gallery, LA.
Works from the Brain Terrains series are held in collections at the McConnell Brain Imaging Centre, The University of British Columbia, The THNK Centre for Creative Leadership, and in private collections. A related project, Inner-Selfies @ AGO, was funded by a major grant from the Canada Council’s Digital Strategy Fund and was shown at the Art Gallery of Ontario for 14 months between 2022 and 2023. The hybrid public engagement project invited gallery visitors to create their ‘Inner Selfies’ in a physical maker space onsite, and online with a Selfie-making tool in an immersive digital experience.
Hanif’s expertise in creating compelling visual imagery and his history of successful large-scale installations have uniquely positioned him to bring this vision to life for Deloitte Greenhouse, Toronto. He continues to evolve the Brain Terrains body of work and develop commissions for large-scale installations.