Miraclegrow by Rosha Yaghmai

Miraclegrow is an artwork installation by artist Rosha Yaghmai that explores the concept of psychedelia as an array of features that can be figurative or abstract, realist or fantastic, geometric or organic. The term psychedelic contains its own ideas and associated messages, all while being very abstract and defined. In this  installation work Yaghmai asks the viewer to imagine the perspective of a small spider on a bathroom floor. As this spider scurried across her floor Yaghmai yanked away her clothes, the spider’s goal/target, etc. From this action the spider immediately stopped as its goal disappeared. Imagining the spider’s feelings in that moment is what Yaghmai refers to as psychedelia. 

Another theme of this work is the concept of slippage as a person or thing experiences a change of what was supposed to be, or what should have been, but somehow didn’t. The vague recollection becomes what is described by Plato as anamnesis. Along these lines Yaghmai also explores themes of memory and genetics which link to the artist’s sculptural model of a strand of hair and all of the DNA information it contains. Enlarged, a strand of hair, like a plethora of microscopic material, is not particularly pretty. But the material and artistic qualities imply something larger, something to be examined or pondered; which may not be particularly pretty or silken. In the background a bug zapper lingers, something that isn’t in wide use today, no matter how many bugs whiz about and annoy. Again, something to ponder.

When I first approached this artwork I immediately could see that it was some time of hair or scrap on a bathroom floor, as the hair and tiles are significantly enlarged. My first impression was dirtiness and scrutiny. The coarse texture of the sculpture was reminiscent of items that normally look smooth to the naked eye, but when magnified, they tend to be quite coarse and craggy. I can’t say that I felt like a small spider, but more like something that had been magnified and shoved for consideration. Reading about Yaghmai’s work and genetics I began to think of the study of anthropology and how one might decide to make a living as something other than an artist. Maybe this was the idea of “should’ve but didn’t”. The goal that’s not there anymore.

It is interesting that an artist of California and the Bay is exploring the idea of slippage and being an “other” or outsider in today’s current setting. Slippage is aka pulling the rug out from underneath someone. What is to be expected once things are yanked away? Are there only a few opportunities left, and are those opportunities for anyones in particular? Otherness and exile are themes expressed by a number of artists, and it makes the future just seem like little more than a parking lot. Yanking the rug just means there aren’t any left and nobody knows the first thing of how to make one.