Back to School

Alongside his works in different mediums, including painting, drawing, installation, and performance, Hassan Sharif’s woven assemblages hold an essential space in the artist’s oeuvre. The late period works of Sharif, who passed away in 2016, focus on wall sculptures that feature the objects people often use on a daily basis and find indispensable. Through these works, he questions our dependency on everyday objects, which exist almost like extensions of our bodies, as well as our consumption habits. "Back to School" is one of Hassan Sharif’s woven assemblages that meander between the mediums of painting and sculpture. The work, in which uniform blue and pink children’s backpacks are woven like a carpet, turns this mass-produced, cheap object into a wall sculpture created through a method reminiscent of traditional weaving techniques. In Hassan Sharif’s own words, "Back to School" is based on the idea that children, though unaware of it, carry on their backs a substantial load of knowledge which they will use for their future.