Candice Dehnavi

Overview
Candice Dehnavi
"I translate the dreamlike nature of memory into a physical world of representation." - Candice Dehnavi
Candice Dehnavi’s sculptural practice explores the distance of cultural familiarity: the other within and the given body through recreated memories. Memories of an Iranian-English upbringing find themselves exaggerated through dreamlike imagery that communicates hazily remembered experiences and stories. 
 
Their work samples disparate elements from a personal history of detachment, and through the lens of absurdity, presents a comically exaggerated visual space into which one can insert their own narrative meaning. It transverses the dreamlike nature of formative experiential recollection to a physical world of representation.
 
Each piece could exist in isolation, but there’s a thematic linearity that runs throughout; their wider practice is an act of cohesive world building. It often assumes a childlike demeanour, using comedy and play to hide deeper issues: intersectional identity politics, cultural estrangement, gender identity and the reflective doubt of self-image.
Biography
Candice Dehnavi
Candice Dehnavi (b.1997) lives and works in London. They completed a BA in Fine Art at the Manchester School of Art (2019) and an MA in Sculpture at the Royal College of Art (2023) where they received the Gilbert Bayes Award. They were also awarded the Air Gallery AiR 2021 Open: Castlefield Gallery Associate Awards and the Leonard James Little Art Prize (2019). 
 
Their work has been featured in group exhibitions by galleries and curatorial projects including: Plop Residency curated by Georgia Stephenson, London (2023); The Phony Art Collective, Dodo Gallery, Brighton (2023) Short Supply, Paradise Works, Manchester (2023); Standpoint Gallery, London (2023); The Phony Art Collective, The Regency Town House, Brighton (2023) and Air Gallery, Manchester (2022). They have upcoming exhibitions with Haricot Gallery, London and The Art House, Wakefield. They have undertaken residencies with Standpoint Gallery (2023) and Castlefield Gallery (2022).
 
Exhibitions
Works