Diva Nation – Shamiran Istifan at the Aargauer Kunsthaus

Shamiran Istifan was born in Baden and grew up within the Assyrian exile community, experiencing life in the diaspora. She now lives and works in Zurich. As the winner of the 2026 Manor Art Prize Aarau, she is returning to Aargau for her exhibition. Until 6 September 2026, she is exhibiting new works at the Aargauer Kunsthaus, in which everyday culture, personal influences and social structures intersect.

Upon entering the exhibition, the first thing that strikes the viewer is the strong materiality of the works. Metal tubes stand alongside soft, upholstered fabrics. Black faux leather glistens in the light, whilst stitching traces the outlines of figures and lettering. Soap takes the form of paving stones, and a translucent fabric wraps itself around an architectural framework like a skin. Much of it appears both robust and vulnerable, familiar and new at the same time. The surfaces draw the eye without immediately revealing what lies behind them.

The exhibition explores not only the materials used, but also the visual culture of the noughties. Angels, stars and the words ‘King’ and ‘Queen’ appear on the black, upholstered fabric pieces in the series Unearth Angel I–VII (2026). The tapered shapes are simultaneously reminiscent of gravestones, church windows or the gleaming interiors of cars. The sacred meets pop culture; the sombre meets the playful. The sewn-in angels do not appear detached from the world: they wear high heels, are asleep or seem to be floating away.

This interplay between the visible and the hidden is particularly evident in the work Inbox. Neatly arranged letterboxes represent addresses, names, deliveries and a familiar Swiss everyday order. Keys are in the locks; some flaps are open. The face of the Lebanese pop star Haifa Wehbe appears on the metal surfaces; a ‘Viva Forever’ pendant hangs from a key; behind an open flap lie cassettes by the artist Sultan Çoban. The letterbox thus becomes far more than a container for post. It marks a threshold between public order and private stories: between what is legible from the outside and what remains hidden behind a flap, a door or a name. Whilst the letterboxes appear uniform and functional from the outside, the open compartments offer a glimpse into different personal worlds.

On the floor, the shift in familiar objects continues with Diva Nation . What at first glance looks like a surface of paving stones is actually made up of a multitude of soap bars. The city’s otherwise hard and robust material becomes fragile, fragrant and close to the body. Some of the soap bars are embossed with ‘Diva Nation’ – a reference to the beauty salon DIVAS 4 DIVAS, which Istifan runs with her sister in Zurich. Beauty and self-presentation do not appear here as superficial trivialities. They are just as much a part of social reality as work, family and the places where one grows up.

In the final room, this juxtaposition of different worlds takes on an architectural form. Skin City consists of a towering wooden framework encased in a transparent latex fabric. The structure is reminiscent of a house, a church and a skin all at once. It appears neither entirely habitable nor clearly abandoned, but rather like a space in transition. Thus, the exhibition does not conclude with a fixed notion of origin or home. Skin City appears, rather, as a place between protection and permeability, body and architecture, reality and imagination.