Shadi Rezaei

Pink Wash is made up of sixteen individual Pumice stones (an extrusive igneous rock formed as a result of volcanic eruptions), each dipped in pink acrylic paint. Pumice has been used for thousands of years by men and women as an exfoliator, especially on particularly dry and rough skin.

Each piece of Pumice is housed in its own cubby hole within a larger frame of sixteen voids. Rezaei has elevated this somewhat humble material into something to be honoured and revered. We are invited to stop and look at each individual specimen of rock.

There are large reserves of Pumice in Asian countries including Afghanistan, Syria, Iran and Russia. Like much of the news coverage and government reports that relate to these areas of conflict Rezaei has taken this hard black material and literally Pink Washed it. However, neither the news nor this rock can be covered up by words or washes, the true nature and the harshness of both remain the same. As a metaphor the pumice refers to the ongoing turmoil in the Middle East and the pink acrylic paint is representative of the media and government-led reporting that tries to mask the truth.