4columns – At first glance, it all looks . . . lovely. Beautiful geometric abstractions, arisen from anodyne sources—sewing manuals, darkroom materials, children’s toys. But as the Paris-born Moroccan artist Yto Barrada has said, “misdirection is important for artists and magicians,” and as the title of her solo show at the International Center for Photography plainly states, she’s only an abstractionist part-time.
Image: Yto Barrada, Practice Piece (Sewing Exercise #4B), 2019. © Yto Barrada, Courtesy Pace Gallery