Introduction to Henni Alftan at Tamarind Institute

Paris-based painter Henni Alftan arrived at Tamarind Institute in the winter of 2021, just days after the European travel sanctions were lifted. Alftan is relatively new to printmaking, but was intrigued by the opportunity to explore her visual ideas in a different medium.

INTRODUCTION

DIANA GASTON, DIRECTOR TAMARIND INSTITUTE

Her own studio practice incorporates a level of planning and preparation that translates well to lithography’s technical process and the workshop’s efficiency. During her residency, she worked closely with a team of skilled printers led by Tamarind Master Printer Valpuri Remling, with Frederick Hammersley Apprentice Printer Lindsey Sigmon; together they completed three elegant lithographs, one of which was executed in five parts. Each print engages ideas of time, movement, transparency and the language of ink on paper. Alftan’s work speaks to contemporary experience and domestic life through “small everyday observations,” as described by the artist. Her approach encourages focused seeing, calling out highly refined details at a distinct point in time. The imagery is at once familiar and confounding, with the artist further disrupting the picture plane by flattening forms, exaggerating texture and pattern details, and suspending time. During this residency with Tamarind, Alftan was able to experiment with lithography’s multiple layers and transparencies, bringing a new surface and a play with simultaneity to her rich narrative fragments. The familiar is made all the more compelling, even newly extraordinary, through her persistent observation.

Tamarind Institute is grateful to the New Mexico community for its support of this residency and its related programs. The Frederick Hammersley Artist Residency was made possible through the generous support of the Frederick Hammersley Fund for the Arts at the Albuquerque Community Foundation.

2021 FREDERICK HAMMERSLEY ARTIST RESIDENCY