“When we imitate, we transfer not only the demands for creative activity but also the responsibility for the action from ourselves to another.”
–George Simmel, Philosophy of Fashion, 1905
Integrating the violence of the scene, the gaze and the pose into the general economy of the image, Azize Ferizi’s work is founded in a structural approach to painting and clothing. Within this, fashion serves as a model for notions of belonging as the expression of a hierarchical society.
Her exhibition is made up of two ensembles. Outside the curtain, the motif of a bust is repeated across eighteen paintings on paper, with a series of different patterns cut. Reminiscent of preparatory work for a collection, the palette draws from a swatch of 110 colours developed by the artist for the work. Blocks of colour appear side by side in each painting, without any mixing taking place. The figure seen from the back both resists representation and offers itself to abstraction. The curves that form the body impose themselves on it to create a sovereign plane on which the aesthetic is constructed.
Inside a cage of curtains serving as a protective veil, clothing is used to reference typologies of people. The typologies are made of canvases freed from the surface of the painting. By reducing the textile pieces to their essence, the work forces the gaze to focus on the obvious. Clothes take on the weight of absent bodies, subjected to the authority of relationships of domination.
We often think of emancipation in terms of resistance to norms but for some, conforming resolves the question of one’s singularity by evacuating it. By positively re-evaluating the mimetic gesture, the artist opens the way for the body to something other than its own agency.
Azize Ferizi (1996, Fribourg, CH) is a Swiss-Kosovan artist based in Paris, who graduated from HEAD–Genève and studied at School of Visual Arts, New York City. Influenced by clothing and uniforms, her work combines painting and sculpture, treating canvas as fabric to construct forms reminiscent of garments. She explores colour theory through its symbolism and societal context, using it as a lexicon to convey stereotypical personas. Her recent exhibitions include Exo Exo, Paris (2024), Ilenia, London (2023), Lovay Fine Arts, Geneva (2023) and Cherish, Geneva (2020).
Exhibition view, Azize Ferizi, Spring / Summer 25, Kunsthalle Friart Fribourg, 2025. Photo: Guillaume Python. Courtesy of the artist and Kunsthalle Friart FribourgExhibition view, Azize Ferizi, Spring / Summer 25, Kunsthalle Friart Fribourg, 2025. Photo: Guillaume Python. Courtesy of the artist and Kunsthalle Friart FribourgExhibition view, Azize Ferizi, Spring / Summer 25, Kunsthalle Friart Fribourg, 2025. Photo: Guillaume Python. Courtesy of the artist and Kunsthalle Friart FribourgAzize Ferizi, Untitled, 2025. Photo: Guillaume Python. Courtesy of the artist and Kunsthalle Friart FribourgExhibition view, Azize Ferizi, Spring / Summer 25, Kunsthalle Friart Fribourg, 2025. Photo: Guillaume Python. Courtesy of the artist and Kunsthalle Friart FribourgExhibition view, Azize Ferizi, Spring / Summer 25, Kunsthalle Friart Fribourg, 2025. Photo: Guillaume Python. Courtesy of the artist and Kunsthalle Friart FribourgExhibition view, Azize Ferizi, Spring / Summer 25, Kunsthalle Friart Fribourg, 2025. Photo: Guillaume Python. Courtesy of the artist and Kunsthalle Friart FribourgExhibition view, Azize Ferizi, Spring / Summer 25, Kunsthalle Friart Fribourg, 2025. Photo: Guillaume Python. Courtesy of the artist and Kunsthalle Friart FribourgExhibition view, Azize Ferizi, Spring / Summer 25, Kunsthalle Friart Fribourg, 2025. Photo: Guillaume Python. Courtesy of the artist and Kunsthalle Friart FribourgExhibition view, Azize Ferizi, Spring / Summer 25, Kunsthalle Friart Fribourg, 2025. Photo: Guillaume Python. Courtesy of the artist and Kunsthalle Friart FribourgExhibition view, Azize Ferizi, Spring / Summer 25, Kunsthalle Friart Fribourg, 2025. Photo: Guillaume Python. Courtesy of the artist and Kunsthalle Friart FribourgExhibition view, Azize Ferizi, Spring / Summer 25, Kunsthalle Friart Fribourg, 2025. Photo: Guillaume Python. Courtesy of the artist and Kunsthalle Friart FribourgAzize Ferizi, father figure, 2025. Photo: Guillaume Python. Courtesy of the artist and Kunsthalle Friart FribourgAzize Ferizi, father figure, 2025. Photo: Guillaume Python. Courtesy of the artist and Kunsthalle Friart FribourgAzize Ferizi, maid (mother figure), 2025. Photo: Guillaume Python. Courtesy of the artist and Kunsthalle Friart FribourgAzize Ferizi, national anthem, 2025. Photo: Guillaume Python. Courtesy of the artist and Kunsthalle Friart FribourgAzize Ferizi, seasonal labour, 2025. Photo: Guillaume Python. Courtesy of the artist and Kunsthalle Friart FribourgAzize Ferizi, seasonal labour, 2025. Photo: Guillaume Python. Courtesy of the artist and Kunsthalle Friart FribourgAzize Ferizi, virgin, 2025. Photo: Guillaume Python. Courtesy of the artist and Kunsthalle Friart FribourgAzize Ferizi, holy, 2025. Photo: Guillaume Python. Courtesy of the artist and Kunsthalle Friart FribourgAzize Ferizi, Untitled, 2025. Photo: Guillaume Python. Courtesy of the artist and Kunsthalle Friart FribourgAzize Ferizi, Untitled, 2025. Photo: Guillaume Python. Courtesy of the artist and Kunsthalle Friart FribourgAzize Ferizi, Untitled, 2025. Photo: Guillaume Python. Courtesy of the artist and Kunsthalle Friart FribourgAzize Ferizi, Untitled, 2025. Photo: Guillaume Python. Courtesy of the artist and Kunsthalle Friart FribourgAzize Ferizi, Hey Anna, 2024 / Hey Vera, 2024. Photo: Guillaume Python. Courtesy of the artist and Kunsthalle Friart Fribourg
Photos: all images copyright and courtesy of the artist and Kunsthalle Friart Fribourg
