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The Arab Fund for Arts and Culture - AFAC was founded in 2007 as an independent foundation to support individual artists as well as organizations working in the fields of cinema, performing and visualThe Arab Fund for Arts and Culture - AFAC was founded in 2007 arts, research, music, training andas an independent foundation to support individual artists regional events, creative and criticalas well as organizations working in the fields of cinema, perwritings, and documentary film andforming and visual arts, research, music, training and regional photography. AFAC strives to build events, creative and critical writings, and documentary film and a flourishing cultural and artistic scene across the Arab region thatphotography. AFAC strives to build a flourishing cultural and contributes to establishing open andartistic scene across the Arab region that contributes to estabvibrant societies, where young andlishing open and vibrant societies, where young and seasoned seasoned voices engage with each other in the wake of the massive transformations being witnessed by the region.
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Contents
Issue 08 / 2019
INDUSTRY
PROFILE
The Shortest Distance Between Us: GPP
Sima Zureikat................................. 76
Editor’s note
Photo Week, Dubai. Inhabited Deserts:
By: T. Khalifa
As far as art lovers are concerned, this issue of Tribe arrives at one of the most
Empty Quarter Gallery, Dubai. Age Old
Toufic Beyhum.............................. 80
important times of year in the UAE for the arts. Art season has begun: Sharjah
Cities: The Arab World Institute, Paris.
By: Maha Alsharif
Biennial 14 is inaugurated accompanied by March Meeting (MM19), Art Dubai
Out of Place: Athr Gallery, Jeddah.
Sara Naim...................................... 86
commences, SIKKA artfair is underway, DIFC’s Gate Village and Art Week at
Jameel Library: Jameel Arts Centre,
By: Sabrina DeTurk
Alserkal Avenue reopen with exciting and anticipated exhibitions. The art scene
Dubai. In Between / In Transit: Various
Nadim Asfar................................... 92
bustles once again with the energy and buzz we all remember from previous years.
Galleries, USA. On Photography in
By: Katherine Lawson
Lebanon: Kaph Books , Beirut. Punk
Walid Layadi-Marfouk................... 98
Orientalism: The MacKenzie Art Gallery,
By: Emma Warburton, adapted from
Regina. Playing Innocent: MMAG Fndn.,
text by the artist
For us at Tribe, this means many of our friends are back in town. It is a perfect time to catch up and see what is new on the creative frontier. This issue of Tribe features work that skews the scales in favour of the conceptual,
Amman. .....................................12 - 15
whether to investigate the relationship of photography to other materials and
NEW MEDIA REVIEW
Mo’awia Bajis................................ 104
movements, to journey through personal narratives, or to contemplate and critique
Beirut Art Fair............................ 16
By: Joud Halawani Al-Tamim
the past and the future. The artists featured in this current issue leverage photography
By: Lizzy Vartanian Collier
Jamelie Hassan............................. 106
as a tool to both technically and conceptually engage with other ideas and art forms.
Jananne Al-Ani......................... 18
By: Corinna Ghaznavi
This issue celebrates the versatility of photography, and its ability to communicate
By: Geraldine Kirrihi Barlow Photos À La Chair...................... 24
SERIES
By: E. Nina Rothe
Ahmad El Abi................................ 108
eL Seed...................................... 30
Ayham Jabr.................................... 112
By: Anna Seaman
Ismail Zaidy.................................... 118
in conceptual, technical and even abstract visual language. Enjoy.
Hamida Zourgui............................. 124 FEATURE
Shogh Ian....................................... 130
Ayman Baalbaki......................... 34
Alaini, Kaleem Books, Lia Gotsis Paschal, Lulu Al-Sabah, Maysoune Ghobash,
PROJECT SPACE
By: Lizzy Vartanian Collier
Tribe has been supported by: Al Serkal Avenue, Debbie Kanafani, Haitham Philip Lanier, Rami & Ramzi Tabiat, Rana Sadik and Samer Younis, Sirin Masri,
Low-Rez......................................... 134 PORTFOLIO
Sophie Bray, Tashkeel and The Mohamed S. Farsi Foundation.
Akam Shex Hadi........................ 40
Cover Image 1: Untitled #2, from the series Archaeology of
By: Lulu Al-Sabah
Occupation (Detail) (2015) Archival pigment print, mounted
Jellel Gasteli.............................. 52
on 3mm aluminium composite, 172 x 120 cm.
By: Emma Warburton Hazem Harb.............................. 64 By: Sandra S. Williams
Cover Image 2: The Place is Mine #1 (Detail) (2018) Photography Collage and Plexiglas on fine art paper on canvas, 150 x 120 cm
In Partnership with:
f tribephotomag d tribephotomag - www.tribephotonewmedia.com Contact: editorial@ink.com, sales@ink.com Media Partnerships:
Publisher Mubarik Jafery
Editorial Assistant Emma Warburton
Business Development Nanda Collins
Design Channels
Print Consultant Sivadas Menon
Pre Press Rana Veera Kumar
Photo Editor Sueraya Shaheen
Assistant Editor Woodman Taylor
Distribution Maria Añonuevo
Artfair Coordinator Daveeda Shaheen
Production Manager Gopinath.V.C
Associate Editor New Media Janet Bellotto
Copy Editor Sabrina DeTurk
Legal Consultant Fatimah Waseem
Design Assistant Zia Paulachak Jafery Laradona Shaheen
Printing Supervisor Sreejesh Krishnan
Printer Jonson M Vargees Biju Varghese Raja Mani
This catalog is created as a showcase of creative works within the region. Its aim is to create awareness of the arts. Please note that the information in this magazine, including all articles, and photographs, do not make any claims. Any information offered is expressly the opinion of the creator/author of that material. The content created by the authors, creators and works on these pages are subject to copyright law. The reproduction, editing, distribution and any kind of exploitation outside the limits of copyright require the written consent of the respective author or creator. 7.05.16.9.3.4.5683.968
PHotoESPAÑA 2019 XXII Festival internacional de fotografía y artes visuales 5 junio – 1 septiembre
© Sharon Core
www.phe.es
Writers Corinna Ghaznavi is an independent curator and
Art History. A researcher, curator and art educator, she is
critical content on contemporary visual culture.
freelance writer. Since 1997 she has curated exhibitions
the Curatorial Assistant for the Toronto Biennial and the
Prior, she worked with art galleries, institutions,
across Canada and in the Netherlands. She has been
Art Editor for the Hart House Review. She has lectured
and artists in the UAE, Palestine and UK.
published in Canadian and European art magazines
and participated in programming both nationally
She obtained her BA in Art, Design, and Media from
as well as numerous exhibition catalogues. In 2011 she
and internationally. She has curated exhibitions at Y+
Richmond University in London. Interested in art
completed her PhD, which focused on the question
Contemporary, Scarborough; RYMD, Reykjavik; the
management, she went on to complete a MA in Art
of the animal in contemporary art. Ghaznavi lives and
Art Museum, Toronto; and the Art Gallery of Ontario,
Business at Sotheby’s Institute of Art, where she focused
works in Grey County, Ontario. f ghaznavic
www.katieblawson.com
her research on cultural policy in the Arab World. instagram: f mahasharif
Emma Warburton is an independent arts writer and
Joud Halawani Al-Tamimi is a graduate of Politics and
emerging curator currently based in Toronto, Ontario.
Near and Middle Eastern Studies from the School
Nick Leech, an experienced journalist, feature writer
She holds a BA in Painting and Drawing and an MA in
of Oriental and African Studies. She currently works
and syndicated columnist, was a feature writer and arts
Curating Contemporary Art. She recently completed
at Darat al Funun as an Assistant Curator and is also
correspondent with The National, Abu Dhabi’s daily
a Curatorial Internship at the Art Gallery of Ontario.
the co-founder of Abajur, a collaborative space for
English language newspaper, for almost decade. Now
Today, she works as the Editorial Assistant for Tribe
artistic exchange and experimentation. Her most recent
based in the UK, Nick writes on subjects ranging from
magazine. Emma regularly writes for a number of print
projects have built on her deep-seated interest in the
art and photography to architecture and urbanism for
and online based art publications, and maintains an
subject of “the right to the city.”f joudaltamimi93
international publications such as The Independent (London), Domus (Milan), The National (Abu Dhabi)
informal but active art practise based in painting, drawing and ephemeral sculpture. f hellohellomissy
Lizzy Vartanian Collier is a London-based writer with
and Folio (Dubai). f leechspeaking
a strong interest in contemporary Middle Eastern E. Nina Rothe is a journalist and blogger who was
Art. She has a BA in Art History and an MA in
Sabrina DeTurk is an art historian, curator, writer and
born in Florence, Italy and grew up in New York City.
Contemporary Art and Art Theory of Asia and Africa
associate professor in the College of Arts and Creative
Her work has been featured on the Huffington Post,
from the School of Oriental and African Studies. She
Enterprises at Zayed University in Dubai. Her book
The National, Vogue Italia, Empire Arabia, Thrive
runs the Gallery Girl blog and has written for After
Street Art in the Middle East: Place, Politics and Visual
Global, Bespoke, Tehelka, CNN International and
Nyne, Arteviste, Canvas Magazine, the Guardian,
Style will be published by I.B. Tauris in 2019.
many other publications. Nina’s passions are cinema
Harper’s Bazaar Arabia, Ibraaz, Jdeed Magazine,
with a conscience, art that explores heritage and
Suitcase Magazine and ReOrient. Lizzy is also curator
Sandra S. Williams is an assistant curator at LACMA,
conscious fashion because they each possess the
of Perpetual Movement at Arab Women Artists Now
where she has worked on exhibitions of Islamic and
ability to change the world. ENinaRothe.com
- AWAN 2018 (London) f gallerygirlldn
contemporary art from the Middle East. She wrote
Geraldine Kirrihi Barlow is Curatorial Manager,
Lulu M Al-Sabah is the founder and Director of
photography in Iran and has a forthcoming article
International Art at the Queensland Art Gallery
JAMM, an art firm specializing in contemporary
on the same topic that will be published in the Getty
| Gallery of Modern Art, QAGOMA in Brisbane,
Arab and Iranian art. In 2012, she established a
Research Journal.
Australia. Geraldine is interested in the energy arising
permanent exhibition space in Dubai. Al-Sabah is the
from the intersections between people and cultures,
former Director of the Middle East at Phillips de Pury
T. Khalifa is a writer, researcher and independent
drawing on her mixed Anglo-Celtic-Maori descent, as
& Company. In 2008 she curated an exhibition on
curator based in the Kingdom of Bahrain. She works
well as her work over the past two decades with artists
modern artists from the Middle East at the Saatchi
closely with artists and creative practitioners to produce
from Australia and around the globe. As a curator,
gallery in London. She contributes to magazines such
thought-provoking art exhibitions and educational
she has explored questions around the agency of the
as Canvas, Eastern Art Report and Tribe. Al-Sabah
programmes in collaboration with UK Colleges. She
individual, memory, space, trauma, justice, beauty
has an MA in social and cultural history from Birkbeck
is both an Independent Curators International (ICI) and
and the creative process.
College, University of London.
Kings’ College alumni, and has showcased exhibitions
Katherine Lawson is a graduate of the Master of Visual
Maha Alsharif is a writer and emerging critic.
institutions in Bahrain including The Bahrain Museum,
Studies Curatorial program at the University of Toronto,
She recently founded theartcricket.com, an
Shaikh Ebrahim Center for Culture and Research, and
where she previously completed her Master of Arts in
independent blog, focused on providing written
Al Riwaq Art Space.
her master’s thesis for the Institute of Fine Arts on
at the Shubbak Festival, Sikka Art Fair and a multitude of
10 tribe
2019 تتشرف كلية الفنون والصناعات اإلبداعية بدعوتكم لحضور معرض الخريجات لعام
College of Arts and Creative Enterprises cordially invites you to attend the Senior Exhibition 2019
الفنون المرئية Visual Art
التّ صميم الداخلي Interior Design
المتحركة التّ صميم الجرافيكي الرسوم ّ ّ Graphic Design Animation Design
أبوظبي
Abu Dhabi
2019 ، مايو4 - أبريل28 28 April - 4 May, 2019 S جاليري،السعديات ّ منارة Manarat Al Saadiyat, Gallery S حفل االفتتاح Opening Reception | اإلثنين2019 ، أبريل29 Monday | 29 April, 2019 مساء 7:00 PM ً
دبي
Dubai 2019 ، مايو2 - أبريل28 28 April - 2 May, 2019 6 المبنى،حي دبي للتّ صميم ُّ Dubai Design District, Building 6 حفل االفتتاح Opening Reception | األحد2019 ، أبريل28 Sunday | 28 April, 2019 مساء 7:00 PM ً
INDUSTRY
The Shortest Distance Between Us Stories from the Arab Documentary Photography Program
The Shortest Distance Between Us: GPP Photo Week, Dubai
Infertile Crescent by Nadia Bseiso, which follows a controversial pipeline that transports water from the Red Sea to the Dead Sea, exploring the effects of war and ecological turmoil in the once-fertile crescent of Mesopotamia.
styles of visual storytelling, the exhibition included documentary
The Shortest Distance Between Us | Stories from the Arab Documentary
photography projects that allow the viewer to experience issues affecting
Photography Program is the headline exhibition for GPP Photo Week
the region without the tropes that so often dilute stories into statistics and
2019, presented with The Arab Fund for Arts and Culture (AFAC),
visual repetition. The exhibition showcased experimental photography
Alserkal Avenue, in association with the Prince Claus Fund and Magnum
styles from photographers including Elsie El Haddad, whose work follows
Foundation.
men and women through their re-entry into society after time in prison in
The exhibition was curated by Jessica Murray of Al-liquindoi and
Lebanon, and Nadia Bseiso, whose work follows a controversial pipeline that
showcased in Concrete, Alserkal Avenue’s iconic space. The exhibition
transports water from the Red Sea to the Dead Sea, exploring the effects
featured curated works from projects made by seven photographers
of war and ecological turmoil in the once-fertile crescent of Mesopotamia.
who were awarded grants and commissions by the Arab Documentary
Other works included in the exhibition were Intersections by Hicham Gardaf,
Photography Program (ADPP). The program has been an instrumental
Live, Love Refugee by Omar Imam, West of Life by Zied Ben Romdhane,
force in shaping and nurturing self-reflective documentary photography
Moon Dust by Mohamed Mahdy, and Homemade by Heba Khalifa. The
from the Arab world since 2014. Working across a range of experimental
exhibition ran from 4-9 February, 2019.
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INDUSTRY
Age Old Cities: Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris Currently showing at The Arab World Institute is a major exhibition that combines giant screen projections, virtual reality experiences, archival documents and images, as well as videos and testimonials from local populations to give life to great sites in the Arab world that are threatened or have been destroyed: Mosul, Aleppo, Palmyra, and Leptis Magna. It invites visitors on a journey through space and time: into the glorious history of these places, and sadly into a recent past marked by destruction. The aim of the exhibition is to immerse the public in the splendors of these major centers of world heritage, but also to raise awareness about the stakes involved in preserving and protecting these precious and fragile gems. Dasht-e Lut, from the series Inhabited Deserts. Courtesy John R Pepper
Inhabited Deserts: Empty Quarter Gallery, Dubai
Photoshop, just a vintage camera and film, and his eyes. Sebastian Ebbinghaus of the Empty Quarter gallery says the exhibition “is art photography, telling another story of the
A collaboration between renowned Italian
desert” and leaving much to the imagination of
photographer John R Pepper and UAE-based
the naked eye, not even curating the exhibition
explorer Max Calderan has captured some
with titles of the photos.
of the most dramatic landscapes across the
“John Pepper shows how the desert should or
world. When John R Pepper embarked on
could be seen, and what he learnt from Calderan.
his Inhabited Deserts collection, it was never
John’s pictures show the desert differently—it
going to be the usual desert landscapes. The
is rather abstract, still mentally taking you, the
Italian photographer began the project with
spectator, into this unknown world.
a determination to create a new perception
“It’s abstract, black and white, and no picture has
of some of the world’s most arid terrains; no
a title, on purpose. The spectator sees and feels.”
From the exhibition Age Old Cities: A virtual journey from Palmyra To Mosul (2019) Installation view. Courtesy of Institut du Monde Arabe
a selection of works that reflect a shift in the conception of artmaking or a new departure for an artist when in unfamiliar contexts and faced with new discourses. As keen observers and “storytellers” of abstract notions and life in its many forms, artists
Out of Place: Athr Gallery, Jeddah
From the exhibition Out of Place (2019) Installation view. Courtesy of Athr Gallery
are immersed in the environment that informs their creative endeavor and often this space is reflected in the final work.
Indeed, the space of production is here at the
Participating artists: Ahaad Alamoudi, Ahmed Mater, Aya
The premise of Out of Place sheds light on the
heart of the discourse, what is the purpose of an
Haidar, Ayman Yossri Daydban, Dana Awartani, Ibrahim
creative process and experiences that occur when
artist residency, what are the artists exposed to
Abumsmar, Moath Alofi, Mohamed Monaiseer, Muhannad
artists are immersed in new environments and the
and how do they benefit from these experiences.
Shono, Nasser Al Salem, Reem Al Nasser, Sara Abdu, Sarah
influence on their artistic process and production.
The exhibition is loosely curated around
Abu Abdullah, Ziad Antar.
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INDUSTRY
Jameel Library: Jameel Arts Centre, Dubai Jameel Library, the UAE’s first open-access contemporary arts library and resource centre, opened on 11 November 2018 alongside the inauguration of Jameel Arts Centre in Dubai. The library features a comprehensive, bilingual collection of more than 2,000 books, journals, catalogues and theses. The library collection is extraordinarily collaborative, as experts from over 30 organisations have submitted materials that tell the story of the development of the local and regional arts scene and inform the public about regional artists’ practices. Knowledgegenerating library programmes include talks, research projects, symposia and reading groups, and Art Jameel Commissions will award a writer’s residency focused on research and publishing. View of the Jameel Library in the Jameel Arts Centre, Dubai (2019) Courtesy Art Jameel. Photography: Mohamed Somji
In Between / In Transit: Various Galleries, USA Focusing on the tentative, limbo-like experience of living between different cultures, In Between / In Transit brings together the work of five artists to explore narratives of immigrants who traverse the no-man’s land existing between home and hope. Participating artists Oman Imam, Stefanie Zofia Schulz, George Awde, Gohar Dashti, and Tanya Habjouqa each strive to disrupt widely accepted misconceptions about immigration and otherness in order to tell a more accurate story. The photographs and videos presented here from Germany, Jordan, Lebanon, Italy, and Iran are testaments to the day-to-day struggles faced by many immigrants who seek some sense of normalcy, stability, dignity and a place to call home. Each body of work examines the experiences of those thrust into a culture that is markedly different from their own.
Tanya Habjouqa, from the series Tomorrow there will be Apricots
These stories illustrate the physical and psychological challenges faced, while
In Between / In Transit is a travelling exhibition, shown at Blue Sky Gallery
looking at the deeper discussion of what constitutes citizenship in the wake of
November, 2018, San Francisco Camerawork January, 2019, and San Diego
enormous migrations into Europe.
State University Downtown Gallery April, 2019.
On Photography in Lebanon: Kaph Books , Beirut Last fall, Kaph Books celebrated the launch of On Photography In Lebanon at the Sursock Museum in Beirut. The art book features the work of forty contributors who share their perspectives on photography in Lebanon, and its numerous evocative forms. Examining techniques, practices, uses, objects, images, histories, and artistic approaches, the publication presents 380 photographs produced between the end of the 19th century and the present day.
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INDUSTRY
Punk Orientalism: The MacKenzie Art Gallery, Regina The MacKenzie Art Gallery in Regina, Canada recently hosted Punk Orientalism, an exhibition exploring nonconformist contemporary art and artists of Central Asia, Caucasus, Iran and the Middle East. “Punk Orientalism presents the work of artists who address issues of Soviet imperialism, and ‘friendship,’ revealing new pathways into history and geopolitics that are timely and relevant to understanding our current social and political climate,” said Sara Raza, the exhibition’s curator. “Bringing together an array of critical voices that slice through oversimplified narratives of history and place, these artists also speak to the wider influence of the former Soviet Union, beyond Central Asia and the Caucasus to include Iran and parts of the Arab world, to shape a different understanding of how one East perceives another East.” November 2018 to February 2019 From the exhibition Punk Orientalism (2019) Installation views. Mackenzie Art Gallery, Regina, Saskatchewan. Courtesy Mackenzie Art Gallery.
Playing Innocent: MMAG Fndn., Amman Playing Innocent is a group exhibition recently hosted at the MMAG Foundation in
Arabian Street Artists. Homeland is Not a Series (2019) from the exhibition Playing Innocent at MMAG Foundation, Jordan Courtesy the MMAG Foundation
Amman, Jordan, that seeks to examine artistic practices from different geopolitical
of noise, they respond to another tradition of subversion and follow a different
contexts that focus on intervention as method. Playing Innocent deals with the
rhythm, a more subtle long-term cadence. Participating artists include Cristina
notion of innocence in all of its connotations, but namely understands it to be a
Lucas, Daniel Aguilar Ruvalcaba, Jill Magid, Levi Orta, Lawrence Abu Hamdan,
label for non-transgression. With the exception of a few more recent works included
Núria Güell, Omar Mismar, Pilvi Takala, Raed Ibrahim, Razan Mubaideen, Tanja
afterward, most of the artworks in the exhibition were produced between 2007
Ostojić, The Yes Men, Voina and Arabian Street Artists. Playing Innocent is
and 2014—the same period that witnessed the 15-M, the Occupy movements and
curated by Alejandra Labastida, Associate Curator at MUAC (University Museum
the Arab Spring, a moment when one could more clearly envisage a semblance
of Contemporary Art), in collaboration with Noura Salem, Deputy Director of
of change. Although these works coincided with that wave of resistance, and
MMAG Foundation.
tribe 15
REVIEW Images - Courtesy of Beirut Art Fair. Writer - Lizzy Vartanian Collier, arts writer and curator.
Beirut Art Fair: Across Boundaries A look at the evolution of Lebanese photography through public and private collections The 2018 edition of the Beirut Art Fair was the
Hashem El Madani who ran the Studio Shehrazade
“My goal is to bring to the public what Lebanese
biggest yet. Consisting of 53 exhibitors from across
in Sidon. Upon discovering that his wife had gone
photography private collectors are buying,” said
the Middle East, Europe and the USA, 2018 focused
behind his back to take the photograph, Mrs Baqari’s
Nahas. ACROSS BOUNDARIES presented a rich
on photography, with ACROSS BOUNDARIES—an
husband had slashed the image with a pin. Zaatari’s
culture of Lebanese photography and collecting,
exhibition of Lebanese photography from across
enlarged 2012 version amplifies the damage made
which created a dialogue between generations of
30 institutional and private Lebanese collections—
to the image while asking questions about the
artists, histories and traditions.
located at the heart of the fair.
circumstances surrounding the photograph.
Curated by Tarek Nahas, ACROSS BOUNDARIES
Where Documents resurrected memories, Territory
included around 100 Lebanese photographic
took in the landscape, capturing the presence of
works, spanning the early 20th century to today. The
nature and urban photography, and demonstrating
exhibition was divided into three distinct sections:
Lebanon’s constant affinity between city and nature.
Documents, Intimate and Territory and illustrated
Here, Tanya Traboulsi’s untitled Fujifilm 2011 Instax
the beginnings of photography in Lebanon, from the
photographs illustrate wide, aerial views of Lebanese
first photographic studios run by Armenian traders to
cities through a dusky haze of purple and blue, while
photojournalism that chronicled the civil war.
Randa Mirza’s Live up to your true nature, 2013, (from the Beirutopia series) shows where nature has been
ACROSS BOUNDARIES moved thematically, as
inserted into the city. The image consists of a glittering
opposed to chronically, allowing works by Manoug
pool—probably situated inside a luxury apartment
Alemian—the Syrian mid-century photographer
complex—surrounded by lush plants and palms.
who captured Lebanon’s cedar forests and ancient
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ports—to be displayed alongside artists like Joana
The highlight of the exhibition however, was in the
Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige. The show’s opening
section titled Intimate. Consisting of sensual images
segment, Documents, addressed memory in the
that include kissing, nudity, vanity and eroticism,
context of photographic archives, shedding light
Intimate dealt with the paradox of the unseen
on their reinterpretation through contemporary
being revealed. Amongst vintage black and white
methods in order to construct new narratives. This
dreamlike photographs of women lounging in bed
idea was demonstrated in Raed Yassin’s Proposal
were vibrant film portraits taken by Saro, whose
for a Proposal 7, 2018, which consists of embroidery
women mimic Hollywood starlets, as well as the
on top of an intimate family photograph, physically
more understated work of Fouad Elkhoury, whose
building a layer of silk onto a previously much flatter
The Siesta, 1994, depicts the bottom half of the
image of memory. Also included here was Akram
female body. Lying on a bed, a pair of elegant legs
Zaatari’s Scratched Portrait of Mrs Baqari, 1959-2012.
is framed by the light coming into the room from
The scratched image is based on a photograph by
an open window.
Beirut Art Fair, installation views Akram Zaatari Scratched Portrait of Mrs Baqari (1959-2012) scanned from 4 Ă— 5 inch negatives from the archive of Hashem El Madani, Studio Shehrazade, SaĂŻda
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REVIEW Images - Courtesy of the artist. Writer - Geraldine Kirrihi Barlow, curatorial manager.
Jananne Al-Ani: Black Powder Peninsula History and the occupation of landscape ‘By adopting the bird’s eye view of the fighter pilot
rises as if we are being lifted out of the landscape.
or the cruise missile, it was possible to represent
The sensation is akin to an out-of-body experience:
the landscape of the Middle East as a barren,
a lucid dream. The work also reveals layers in our
unoccupied desert.’ (1)
globally connected histories, and takes its name from gunpowder, introduced into Europe and the
The films of Iraqi-born artist Jananne Al-Ani reveal
Middle East in the thirteenth century from China.
the imprint of history, conflict and occupation on the landscape. We see no trace of the human body, but
The film is a loop, an endless cycle. We rise up
in the act of viewing, we become aware of our own
above sites that are key to the flow of power and
bodies in space. The artist observes:
resources: the frothing liquid of a waste treatment plant, buzzing electrical infrastructure, the repeating
‘One of the most striking effects an aerial view offers
geometry of greenhouses, the skeletal beams
is the possibility of flattening and abstracting any
and cell-like remains of munitions factories, and
standing structures, including the human body. When
the circular imprints of defunct oil tanks and long-
used in war, the privileged perspective of those in
dilapidated stone fortifications. There is a humming
the air can reduce the visibility of the population on
tension of interconnectivity: we hear the rotor blades
the ground: the image of the landscape becomes
of a helicopter, the cry of a bird, the crackle of a radio,
two dimensional, cartographic.’ (2)
an intense substation buzz of electricity. All these systems connect us, feed us, turn the lights on, fuel
satellite imagery created a watershed in the history
Al-Ani describes her latest film Black Powder
our society. Some are the lifeblood of power, others
of war reportage.’ (4)
Peninsula 2016 as focusing ‘on the British landscape
the artefacts of past technologies.
and, by implication, Britain’s historic role in the
These images of war were circulated broadly across
formation of both the United States and the modern
Black Powder Peninsula is an aerial journey over
the world, and offered a disembodied view of the
Middle East’. (3) To establish her visual language,
the artist’s present home, the United Kingdom. Film
violence affecting life in Iraq. Al-Ani is deeply aware
she drew on World War I aerial reconnaissance
locations are sites of military, economic or industrial
of the legacy of first the British Imperial, and then
photography and the practice of aerial archaeology,
power — the remains of the Curtis’s and Harvey
the American, military and economic power that
which uses the long shadows of dawn and dusk to
explosives factory at Cliffe, the ghostly footprint
shaped her life and the lives
identify ruins from altitude.
of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company refinery on the
of countless others around the globe.
Isle of Grain, and the ruins of nineteenth-century Al-Ani’s earlier films convey a sense of falling to earth,
Palmerston Forts in the Medway Estuary.
recalling the perspective—in eerie slow motion—of
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Jananne Al-Ani’s works draw our attention to historical layers within the landscape. Black Powder
a missile nearing its target. Black Powder Peninsula
‘My interest in the representation of sites of conflict
Peninsula documents the flow of power and natural
also employs an aerial perspective and bleached,
began with the ‘91 Gulf War, in which the prominent
resources linking us all, both throughout history and
sepia-toned footage, but this time, our viewpoint
role of digital technology, aerial photography and
in the contemporary world.
Black Powder Peninsula (2016) Single-channel digital video, dimensions variable
The film is currently on show in the 9th Asia Pacific Triennial at QAGOMA in Brisbane which runs until the 28th of April 2019 Endnotes 1 - Jananne Al-Ani, quoted in Charlotte Harding, ‘Reimagining war beyond its exceptionality,’ British Journal of Photography, 28 October 2016, <www.bjp-online.com/2016/10/reimagining-warbeyond-its- exceptionality/>, viewed June 2018. 2 - Jananne Al-Ani, quoted in ‘Disappearance of the body: An interview with Cécile Bourne Farrell’, Philosophy of Photography, vol.7, nos.1–2, 2016, p.77. 3 - Al-Ani, quoted in Bourne Farrell. 4 - Al-Ani, quoted in Harding.
The films of Iraqi-born artist Jananne Al-Ani reveal the imprint of history, conflict and occupation on the landscape. We see no trace of the human body, but in the act of viewing
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Black Powder Peninsula (2016) Single-channel digital video, dimensions variable
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REVIEW Images - Courtesy of Camille Zakharia. Writer - E. Nina Rothe, journalist and blogger.
Ali Karimi and Camille Zakharia: Photos À La Chair A caravan of culture project captures the soul of Bahrain “Photography is truth” goes the first half of a
Their collaborations have included Bahrain-
now infamous quote by French filmmaker Jean-
based artists Jaffar Al Oraibi, Abs Khan, Sonu
Luc Godard. Yet in the case of the Photos À La
the Dhol Magician, Zuhair AlSaeed, Mohammad
Chair project, photography also turns into a tool
Bu Hassan, Mai Al Moataz and Ghada Khunji, in
to capture and highlight the history behind that
settings that range from Malkiya Beach to the
truth: the culture, heritage and natural landscape
Royal Camel Farm in Janabiya, the Bahrain Fort
of the country of Bahrain.
Museum and, most recently, A’ali Village. Karimi admits that their dream location is the Bahr Valley,
Born in 2017 out of the collaboration between
a rocky valley that turns into a small lake—hence
Bahraini-born architect Ali Ismail Karimi and
the name “little sea”—when the weather is nice.
Lebanese photographer-slash-engineer Camille
But until they get there, Zakharia admits, they are
Zakharia, Photos À La Chair can only be described
indeed “enjoying the ride!”
as a meeting of minds, featuring great local artists in a public community setting and highlighting
While it may seem almost magical that Zakharia
the various people who call Bahrain home. Do
and Karimi have not really had to pitch the project
not expect to find the scheduled events at regular
since, as Karimi explains they have “been pretty
intervals in time, or within a gallery setting. But
lucky because after the third event, people
do expect to be moved by the global intimacy
have been approaching us,” there is another
of their images and touched by their beauty.
explanation for that. Karimi clarifies that they “haven’t had to pitch the project to institutions
Zakharia explains that he first yearned to
because we don’t need permission or funding,”
collaborate with Karimi when he saw his
for their sessions, adding further that “Bahrain is a
installation during Al Riwaq, The Nest, in 2017
small country and a small art community but there
and that work touched him. But he also noticed
aren’t a lot of chances to experiment formally.”
a “lonely, almost sad” aspect to it and thus
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Photos À La Chair can only be described as a meeting of minds, featuring great local artists in a public community setting and highlighting the various people who call Bahrain home.
decided that he “needed to do something with
The result of this meeting of different disciplines—
the place to activate it.” One of the things that
architecture, photography and even the art of
on Instagram the photographs which emerge
came to his mind was to move the work to a
collage from Zakharia’s background—has been
from the project are immediately captivated by
public setting and “to have an artwork placed as
a series of encounters, in public spaces within
their multiple layers of splendor. Be it elegant
a backdrop and have passersby sit on a bench.”
Bahrain featuring, as Karimi points out “people
horses adorned in tassels, dapper looking men
That’s how the Photos À La Chair project started,
who have no engagement in the arts and do not
in their best thawb or the profiles of beautiful
with the first backdrop provided by Bahraini
attend galleries or museum or art shows.” The
women of different heritages, Photos À La Chair
artist Mohammad Sharkawi and shot in the hip
artists and their occasional participant find this
possesses a spirit all its own, which has to be
neighborhood of Adliya in Manama.
juxtaposition exciting and the people who view
viewed to be believed.
From the project Photos Ă&#x20AC; La Chair 4. Background artist Mai Al Moataz (2018)
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From the project Photos Ă&#x20AC; La Chair 5. Background artist Dilmuni Couple (2018)
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From the project Photos Ã&#x20AC; La Chair 3. Background artist Zuhair Al Saeed (2018)
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From the project Photos Ã&#x20AC; La Chair 2. Background artist Jaffar Al Oraibi (2018)
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From the project Photos Ã&#x20AC; La Chair 6. Background artist Ghada Khunji (2019)
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REVIEW Images - Courtesy of the artists and eL Seed. Writer - Anna Seaman, independent arts writer.
eL Seed: Perception Artist and writer weaves the reader through an immersive Cairo passage It is not often that you get to see the inner workings
vein, the book itself was a collaborative project.
of an artist’s mind. Mostly, artists prefer to express
Through intimate portraits and sweeping vistas,
themselves in a visual language and rightly so,
the book is also dedication to imagery. Some
after all, that is what we would expect. It was
of the photographs were taken candidly and
therefore, a joyful discovery to opening the book
throughout the process by Ouahid Berrehouma
Perception, written by eL Seed, to find that not
and Mahdi Khmili, core members of his small
only is he a skilful artist but an eloquent writer. The
and faithful team, who helped him with every
book begins with an immersive passage taking the
aspect from mixing the colours of the paint, to
reader to the streets of Cairo, weaving amid the
hoisting the lifts, filling in outlines and of course,
traffic and through the sounds and smells before
documentation. The other images, portraits
landing in the district of Manshiyat Nasr at the
of the members of the community as well as
base of the Mokattam mountain. It is a place that
atmospheric shots that bring the words to life in
most locals don’t dare to venture. It is shrouded in
vivid colour and drama were taken by Christina
mystery and superstition, which in fact, as it turns
Dimitrova. Together, the effect of the images and
out, is the basis for eL Seed’s artistic adventure. In
the words allow the reader to see the mural taking
the book, he explains that he has selected the area
shape over the course of the project and also
because it is so marginalised. It is where a large
bear an intimate witness to the deep and lasting
community of mostly Coptic Christian people
friendships and connections made.
live and whose primary occupation is sorting the city’s garbage. Because of this association
The limited editions of the book (the first 500
with the trash, the common perception is that
copies) also contain pages of recycled paper made
these people must also be dirty and stinky, hence
by the community in Manshiyat Nasr as well as a
their nickname ‘the Zabaleen’ (or people of the
hand-painted cover. Each cover contains a single
garbage). However, what unfolds in this beautifully
section of the circular image that was painted as
written book is a story about how his perception
a mural over 50 buildings. In the same way as
changed of these people when he entered their
the original mural could only be seen together
community to paint a mural.
from one vantage point, the first 500 copies of the book will only ever spell out the words again
eL Seed’s entire practice is based on the idea of
if placed together. It is a subtle yet clever nod
social cohesion and breaking down barriers. He
to the nature of the artwork and the deep and
always chooses to paint in the public sphere and
underlying message: that there is more strength
engage as many people as possible in order for
in unity and togetherness than there will ever be
them to feel ownership of the project. In the same
in division.
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From the book Perception (2016) Image courtesy of Ouahid Berrehouma
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From the book Perception (2016) Image courtesy of Christina Dimitrova
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From the book Perception (2016) Images courtesy of (Left) Mahdi Khmili and (Right) Ouahid Berrehouma
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FEATURE Images - Courtesy of the artist. Writer - Lizzy Vartanian Collier, arts writer and curator.
Ayman Baalbaki: Painter Smartphone photographs serve as inspiration ‘We are in a period of explosion of photos, the camera
base myself enormously on photos, but this may not
and the photos are everywhere, surely they became
be the case for my journey in the future.’
essential and heavy.’ – Ayman Baalbaki Amongst his images are a number of self-portraits Ayman Baalbaki, who was born in Adaisseh, Lebanon,
that were not taken on a smartphone—in which
is famous for his large-scale paintings of conflict. His
Baalbaki’s face is covered in a scarf. The photographs
canvases, densely covered in thick oil and acrylic paint,
look like studies for paintings from a series called Al
often consist of destroyed buildings, combat and
Moulatham, which date from 2008. In the images a
weapons. And, while he is known across the world as
man appears with his face covered by a kuffiyeh, a
‘The relationship between painting and photography
who could not find the original high definition images,
is an organic bond and a mutual enrichment,’ says
so sent a picture of the photographs from the paint
Baalbaki, ‘We have a long demonstration of this
splattered floor of his studio.
I create a kinship between subject and treatment of the painting, where the street and its aesthetic reality remains my first basic inspiration
[painting and photography] the imagination that
Baalbaki was born in 1975, the same year as the
are ripped and torn, and it is almost like you can
reproduces and offers new benchmarks to another.’
beginning of the Lebanese Civil War, and his paintings
touch the textures. The viewer has the same feeling
In effect, Baalbaki is likening the photographs he takes
are most often associated with the conflicts that haunt
when confronted with Baalbaki’s paintings, where
to the sketches artists have made in preparation for
the Middle East. His photographs too remind the
they are tempted to reach out and touch the dense
constructing a larger painting throughout history, or
viewer about the effects of war in the region. Amongst
layers of paint.
the act of artists copying the work of one another in
the iPhone images are the road markings covered in
order to improve their own skill. That said, Baalbaki
the Lebanese flag that one can expect to see across
‘I am inspired by reality, by moving between my
explains that he is aware that some frown upon using
Beirut, as well as buildings covered in bullet holes, and
influences,’ Baalbaki explains, ‘I create a kinship
a photograph as a reference. ‘During my academic
other structures that are struggling to stay standing at
between subject and treatment of the painting, where
studies the use of pictures to paint was a flaw, almost
all. ‘We live in a chaotic region, massively destroyed,
the street and its aesthetic reality remains my first basic
a taboo,’ explains Baalbaki, who studied at the École
broken and torn, and my painting is related to this
inspiration.’ Like the paintings that take inspiration
Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs in Paris,
reality’, explains Baalbaki, ‘The panels I take pictures
from them, Baalbaki’s photographs comment on
‘In my work the use of the photo was a choice that
of are more for pictorial influences for the treatment
the effects that war and destruction have had on
contradicts my training, the choice was imposed by
of my painting and the use of materials… than the
Lebanon. The images are raw, un-airbrushed and
my approach in a research phase that was related to
representation of the photo itself.’ In some of the
honest, confronting the viewer with an aftermath that
memory and more to a memory that fades quickly... I
photographs the posters that are covering buildings
is very much present across the country.
a painter, these artworks—which have been exhibited
garment that is often associated with war. ‘The first
at the Venice Biennale and are in the collection of
Moulatham were taken from pictures that I had found
London’s Tate—have been influenced by photographs
in newspapers and magazines, after [these paintings]
taken on Baalbaki’s smartphone.
I had the desire to compose a scene more faithful to what I think in perspective and look,’ explains Baalbaki,
example in the history of art. The two support
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Untitled, iPhone photo (reference material for Concrete Beirut Barrier)
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Untitled, iPhone photo (reference material for Concrete Beirut Barrier)
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Untitled, iPhone photo (reference material for Al Moulatham)
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Untitled, iPhone photo (reference material)
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PORTFOLIO Images - Courtesy of the artist. Writer - Lulu Al-Sabah, art consultant.
Akam Shex Hadi: War and displacement A compassionate document of the devastation Photographer Akam Shex Hadi is tired, yet he
living in my grandparents’ house, which made me
of Baghdad, Shex Hadi’s uncle had been lost from
continues to make the five-hour journey from his
live less child-like because, as the family’s first born,
his family for over 20 years. ‘I met my uncle for the
hometown of Sulaymaniya in Iraqi Kurdistan to Mosul,
I was the only child.’ He lived among his aunts and
first time in 2005, which granted me 6 more cousins,
a city in northern Iraq that fell to the Islamic State
uncles, having to act beyond his years. When he was
four of them were older than me.’ A year prior, he
of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in June 2014. After a
six years old, the whole family fled, along with the
began using a camera for the first time. His preferred
three-year occupation, the Iraqi army launched a
rest of the Kurdish nation, to Iran. ‘I remember that
style is staged photography with a strong element of
military campaign to liberate the city, which resulted in
my legs were weak, and I was on my grandmother’s
documentary. In 2013, he created a photo installation
a nine-month battle that killed more civilians than the
back,’ he says. When Kurdistan was liberated from
of the 1988 chemical attack. To tell the story of 15
ISIL occupation itself. Over one million people were
Saddam’s control, they returned home but lived in
survivors from that attack, he photographed them
displaced. Victory in July 2017 came at a high price,
severe poverty. His mother sewed clothes to put food
at the site of the attack, with each survivor holding a
with the population decimated and the city in ruins.
on the table. ‘I was separated from my sister in school
balloon etched with a smiley face in front of their own
Armed with a digital camera, Shex Hadi documents
and we only had one backpack to use,’ he recalls.
face Those photographs symbolise new beginnings
the devastation whilst providing a compassionate
At age 10, the family had to flee to Iran again due
after debilitating trauma.
ear to the traumatised survivors. Few countries have
to the fighting amongst the political parties within
been bombed, battered and bruised like Iraq. Having
Kurdistan. ‘We became refugees in a cold winter,’ he
The majority of Shex Hadi’s photographic work
lived through the country’s most tumultuous time, he,
states. They eventually returned. ‘War changed our
focuses on the fractured state of present-day Iraq
too, is a survivor.
childhood,’ he says, ‘even the materials we would
and the effects of war and displacement on its
play with were parts of the aftermath of war such as
residents. He was among five artists chosen to
cartridge cases for bullets.
represent the National Pavilion of Iraq at the 2015
Shex Hadi hails from a city known as ‘the Paris of Iraq.’ Founded in the late 18th century by a Kurdish prince,
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Venice Biennale. The works were commissioned
the city of Sulaymaniya, surrounded by mountains,
Despite the bouts of exile during his childhood, it was
by the Ruya Foundation for Contemporary Culture
had been a cultural centre, home to poets, writers,
at the age of 18 that the concepts of one’s homeland
in Iraq and curated by Phillipe Van Cauteren. The
historians and scholars. The photographer’s own
and exile began to take shape in his mind. The US
photographs he presented focused on the fate of
extended family includes many writers and politicians.
invasion of Iraq in 2003, and, in particular, the rumours
Iraqi refugees and internally displaced people as a
Unfortunately, Shex Hadi was born, as he says, ‘at a
that Saddam was planning to unleash chemical attacks
consequence of ISIS. Shex Hadi photographed four
bad time.’ He was three years-old when Saddam
on Kurdish cities forced the photographer to flee
refugee communities across Iraq, including Yazidis,
Hussein used chemical weapons to gas 5,000 Kurds
to a village in the mountains. He states, ‘I spent my
Kobanis, Christians and Kakais. The images were
to death. The genocide occurred on 16 March 1988
days in the village listening to the radio to know what
taken in the refugee camps where they now live: Erbil,
in Halabia, near the Iranian border, an hour and a half
was going on. I was in the mountains, feeling like a
Barika camp, Hawar and Slemani. He spent a week in
drive from Sulaymaniya. Eighteen close members of
refugee in my own country.’ When he returned to his
each camp, taking a photo each day to portray their
his extended family were killed. Shex Hadi had to
city, Saddam’s regime had fallen. ‘We all celebrated
day-to-day lives. The 28 black and white images, each
grow up fast: ‘My dad was a peshmerga [the military
in Kurdish clothes as if we were part of the victory,’ he
30 x 45 cm in a simple black frame, had a common
forces of the federal region of Iraqi Kurdistan] and was
recalls. The fall of the regime allowed his father to look
element, be it a woman holding a baby in front of a
in a revolution against the old regime of Iraq. I was
for his long-lost brother in Baghdad. Being a resident
cross, a child looking towards the camera, a priest in
Christian #7, from the series Invisible Beauty (2014-2015)
a makeshift church, a woman praying, or a man looking solemnly towards the
to pay a great price to be a part of the far-from-war modern countries.’ In
floor, the subjects were mostly shown standing inside a circle of black cloth
another series, entitled Mattress (2016), the haunting images portray thin,
that trailed in a snake-like fashion. The black cloth a symbol for the terrorist
narrow mattresses strewn across a desert landscape. These mattresses were
organization that drove them from their homes. About this series, entitled
used by those in transit, providing temporary comfort to rest the tired bones
Invisible Beauty (2014-2015), Shex Hadi says, ‘I realised that terrorism was not
of the fleeing masses. In War Games (2016), Shex Hadi uses soldiers as his
only around the borders, but it surrounds every Iraqi civilian… the black cloth
subjects, their faces concealed with masks created by children. The soldiers
could represent a symbol for terror that came from the outside… different
were from different forces on the front line of the battle to liberate Mosul.
from our existence and culture.’
Speaking about this series, Shex Hadi says, ‘The effect of war was everywhere no matter how far it was because you had live footage of war in homes. I would
In Homeland, Exile (2016), the standing subjects- men, women and children
hear kids talking about war like experts do… I taught the kids how to make
from Sulaymaniya- are surrounded by barbed wire and small colourful kites
masks, without them knowing why. Later, in the colouring of the masks, you
of varying sizes handmade by Shex Hadi. These images, shown at the 5th
could see the aftermath of war. I took those masks to the battlefield between
International Canakkale Biennial in Turkey, just north of the epicentre of the
the peshmerga and terrorists during war time.’
European refugee crisis, speaks of the mass displacement and migration as a result of war and conflict. The kites symbolise our desire for freedom, which is
After working on a project in Kirkuk, home to Iraq’s oldest oilfields, the
an illusion as kites are tethered to a hand, whilst the barbed wire symbolises
photographer faced new challenges, which he describes as ‘the life of
national borders, which the photographer describes as, ‘commercial lines
banishment.’ The project focused on the city’s stolen riches and the destruction
put down by capitalism to create war in some places so the other places can
of its culture. Due to his involvement with refugees and his most photographic
live safely, and through this they break all cultures and values and you have
projects, Shex Hadi was held captive in his own home and put under surveillance
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Kakalan #6, from the series Invisible Beauty (2014-2015)
by the military forces. To this day, they won’t renew his passport or let him frame. Shex Hadi speaks of the various constrictions placed on the human mind, showcase his new projects. He says, ‘I think about the life of banishment body and spirit within his or her lifetime, and how only our imaginations can break more than ever, for the sake of my own life and the sake of my future works.’ these frames. The final photograph is a white surface without any humans or frames, What he faces brings to mind an earlier series he created in 2011 consisting which asks the viewer to ponder an essential question: which frames do you allow of 13 photographs, printed on canvas, each 50 x 70 cm. Each image is a yourself to be constricted by? genderless person within a frame in the centre of a clock. The images are taken from far above, while the character, made of black crude, moves within Shex Hadi’s work delves beyond the surface to look deeper into the human psyche. the frame. The project, he explains, was ‘contemplating the essence of time His experience has shown him human cruelty beyond measure at an early age and the frames [restrictions] that surround people in a way that it appears to and yet he offers images of hope, love and unity. Like the shadows of the broken remain throughout their lives, but their imagination always crosses the border ladders and the blood splattered on the walls in his series, Ladder of Life, he knows of time.’ Each photograph has its own meaning, shown through the numbers, that humanity’s trajectory towards enlightenment is a long, arduous road. He will frames, shades and light: The first photo represents the beginning of existence continue to make the journeys, document the progress, and live his life, as much in his/her mother’s womb, the second photograph, the human enters the life as humanly possible, outside of the frame.
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Kakalan #7, #3 and #4, from the series Invisible Beauty (2014-2015) Next Page: Kubani #1, from the series Invisible Beauty (2014-2015)
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From the series Homeland, Exile (2016)
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From the series Mattress (2016)
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From the series War Games (2016)
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From the series 1...........13
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From the series Ladder of Life
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PORTFOLIO Images - Courtesy of the artist and Selma Feriani Gallery. Writer - Emma Warburton, arts writer and researcher.
Jellel Gasteli: Form and Surface An interplay of principles, dimensions and art movements Contemporary Tunisian photographer Jellel
series is a visual representation of time itself,
Gasteli has maintained a close relationship with
and proof of its relationship to landscape. Série
formalism over the last three decades. Since
Eclipse is not about the shadows, but what the
his early career, the artist has adhered to a set
shadows represent, and in conceptual art the
of principles guiding the subject matter and
principle idea is the most important aspect of a
style of his photographs, and always considers
final work. In Série Eclipse, the concept behind
the interplay of colour, line, shape, and texture
the photographs is more important than the
in his work. But Gasteli’s work is not purely
individual photographs themselves, since the
formalist. On the contrary, a striking feature
documentation of any shadow over a period of
of the artist’s photography is that it references
time would essentially illustrate the same idea.
numerous contemporary art movements at once, including conceptualism, minimalism,
In later photography projects Gasteli abandons
and abstract expressionism to name just a few.
in part the conceptual angle to explore principles behind minimalism, hard-edge
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Using framing techniques Gasteli flattens three dimensional spaces into two, and combines multiple planes into a singular surface.
Gasteli shot much of his early work in black
abstraction and colour-field painting. Carnet
and white, and the monochromatic trend lent
de Marrakech and Carnet de Tanger (2017)
itself to his propensity for formalism. But these
mark a distinct shift in the photographer’s
projects also reveal the artist’s initial interest in
style as he abandons the monochrome palette
minimalism and conceptual art. Série Blanche
in favour of a full colour spectrum. Gasteli’s
(1996) is a collection of monochrome images
approach remains rooted in formalism, and
of outdoor walls, corners and passageways
as seen in earlier work, walls and shadows
described in white concrete. The scenes are
feature prominently as the subject matter in
still and quiet, and lack any suggestion of
both series. But now Gasteli experiments with
movement, time or life, except for the cast
shortening the distance between himself and
shadows caused by the sun. Here we see
the surfaces he photographs, thus abstracting
Gasteli bridge formalism with conceptualism,
them from their surroundings and intensifying
The resulting compositions are reminiscent of
as shadow takes on metaphoric significance.
the viewer’s focus on texture, line, and form.
Ellsworth Kelly’s minimal hard-edge paintings of
His project Série Eclipse (2001) carries this
For many of the images found in Carnet de
the 1970s, or Mary Heilmann’s more expressive
metaphor further in a sequence of images that
Tanger and Carnet de Marrakech, the artist
colour field paintings of the same era. Several of
traces a building’s shadow as it travels from
creates minimal compositions guided by the
the surfaces are divided into grids, recalling the
West to East with the movement of the sun. The
naturally occurring textures, shadows and cracks
work of Piet Mondrian, the Dutch painter and
images in Série Eclipse are captured at precise
on the walls. Using framing techniques Gasteli
theoretician whose minimalist grid paintings in
intervals throughout the day, in order to illustrate
flattens three dimensional spaces into two, and
primary colours highly influenced art and fashion
the concept of time passing. Essentially, the
combines multiple planes into singular surfaces.
of the late 20th century.
No.VII, from the series Carnets de Marrakech (1996) Archival pigment print, 125 x 125 cm
In more recent work, Gasteli expands his photography practice to experiment
on simplified forms and crude marks on the wall, suggestive of artists such
with some of the fundamental principles underpinning neo and abstract
as Jean Michel Basquiat or Jasper Johns.
expressionism. A series of untitled photographs of walls from 2018 shows the artist making a gradual departure from the influence of flat, hard-edged
Gasteli began his practice as a formalist, and essentially he remains a formalist
minimalism, instead turning his camera to raw textures and more expressive
today. Cosmetic considerations like colour, line and composition will always
surfaces. Untitled No. IV and Untitled No. XVI, for instance, capture in detail
be at the core of his creative process, for as long as he continues to point and
the cratered surfaces of walls that are badly chipped and peeling. The images
shoot. But while formalism is typically known for its stylistic and conceptual
are strongly reminiscent of abstract expressionist paintings, in particular
rigidity, Gasteliâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s version is comparatively playful, curious and open, and he
the work of artists such as Jackson Pollock and Jean Paul Riopelle, whose
experiments with multiple visual languages in his photography work. He is a
dynamic paintings emerged from pouring, splattering and dripping paint
photographer who appreciates subtlety and the poetics of place. He seeks
onto canvas in layers. For other images in the series, such as Untitled No. IX,
to capture formal beauty in informal circumstances, and redefine the banal
Gasteli embraces the primitive aesthetic of neo expressionism by focusing
and the imperfect with a new artistic value.
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No.VI, from the series Carnets de Tanger (1996) Archival pigment print, 125 x 125 cm
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No.VIII, from the series Carnets de Tanger (1996) Archival pigment print, 125 x 125 cm
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No.XI, from the series Carnets de Tanger (1996) Archival pigment print, 125 x 125 cm
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No.VII, from the series SĂŠrie Blanche (1996) Archival pigment print, 120 x 120 cm
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No.IX, from the series SĂŠrie Blanche (1996) Archival pigment print, 120 x 120 cm No.I, from the series SĂŠrie Blanche (1996) Archival pigment print, 120 x 120 cm
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Untitled No.VI (2018) Archival pigment print, 125 x 125cm
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Untitled No.IX (2018) Archival pigment print,125 x 125cm
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Untitled No.XVII (2018) Archival pigment print, 125 x 125cm
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Untitled No.XVI (2018) Archival pigment print, 125 x 125cm Untitled No.IV (2018) Archival pigment print, 125 x 125cm
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PORTFOLIO Images - Courtesy of the artist and Tabari Artspace. Writer - Sandra S. Williams, curator.
Hazem Harb: New Histories Collaging Palestine’s past By bringing the forgotten and marginalized to the
Gaza and the West Bank, cut apart by politics
fore, artists have the power to wrest the writing of
and actual concrete. By creating elisions in the
history from the victors. Palestinian artist Hazem
photographic records, Harb also points to gaps
Harb is one such case. His photographic collages
in historic narratives, particularly those written by
gather the fragments of Palestine’s pre-Nakba
hegemonic powers, where omissions and erasures
history and reformulate them into works that
facilitate a neat, sanitized state ideology.
explore memory, power, and heritage, to question who gets to write history, in what manner, and
Absence (of key details, of faces) and presence (of
for whom. Harb, who was born in Gaza in 1980,
concrete security walls, of technology) suspend
trained in visual arts at IED Istituto Europeo di
Harb’s collages outside of time, where we are
Design, Roma and stage at the Academy of Fine
never completely in the past or the present. In
Arts of Rome, and considers himself a painter but
the TAG series (2015) Harb adds small square
has maintained a fascination with photography
frames around people’s faces and on buildings
since childhood. Several years ago, he began to
in archival photographs, referring to the photo
collect archival photographs of Palestine from the
tagging feature found on Facebook. The squares
internet and private individuals, but only started
suggest these people and places are identifiable
incorporating them in his art in 2015. Harb creates
but no names appear next to the boxes and
collages by cutting and layering the photographs,
instead they remain unknown. In their visibility,
compositing them with his own drawings, opaque
however, the loss of information seems to call for
paper, plexi-glass, and other found materials—his
remedy and input. There is a suggestion that the
method of reclaiming and reworking history.
data might one day be crowdsourced and filled in, the people tagged, known, and remembered,
Among the series Harb made in 2015 was
and that the present might salvage the past.
Archaeology of Occupation, where stark
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By refashioning and recasting the physical photograph, Harb highlights the medium as a malleable and potentially faulty reminder of the past and, more broadly, the imperfect nature of memory itself
geometric shapes and concrete structures assert
Harb returned to the participatory nature of
themselves over late 19th and early 20th century
history writing in his Power Does Not Defeat
The glass has the added effect of reflecting back
landscape photographs of Palestine. Portions of
Memory series (2018). As with the Archaeology
the viewer, making us a part of the composition
the bucolic scenes, once used to attract visitors
of Occupation, he again cuts and layers
and collapsing time. Through this self-referential
to the Holy Land, are blocked and obliterated.
the photographs but here the colors and
tactic, Harb draws his audience into his practice
The concrete forms, including security barriers
compositions are decisively more optimistic. He
of rewriting history and enlivening memory. Such
and fragments of Brutalist architecture, tumble
layers on brightly colored plexi-glass, tinting the
animating of the past reappears, in a different
onto or else hover threateningly over towns and
audience’s view of the past so that they might
manner, in his series Reformulated Archaeology
people. Harb’s photo-collages can be read to
see boats on the Sea of Galilee or a woman in
(2018), where he collages and draws on images
reflect the disjunctive landscape of present-day
traditional Palestinian dress in a literal new light.
of ancient artifacts, giving them a biomorphic
Untitled #27, from the series Archaeology of Occupation (2015) Archival pigment print, collage
appearance. The implication is that like cells or viruses, the historic fragments
concrete is captured in his sculpture In Transit, in which three slabs of
have the potential to evolve. In both series, Harb conveys that the past is not
concrete are strapped to, and therefore, crushing a mattress. The horror
a fixed entity but one that continues to grow, develop, evolve and rewrite.
foreshadowed in the collage manifests in the sculpture, each conceptually reinforcing the other.
Evolution is fundamental to Harbâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s practice as an artist who works across several mediums. The geometric shapes that appear in paper and plexi-
By refashioning and recasting the physical photograph, Harb highlights the
glass throughout his collages derive from his earlier paintings such as
medium as a malleable and potentially faulty reminder of the past and, more
the al Baseera series in which he layered color and shapes in dynamic,
broadly, the imperfect nature of memory itself. He questions the process
Constructivist-like compositions. Harbâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s multi-disciplinary practice allows
of recording history by exposing the ways in which it can be manipulated
him to select the medium that will best convey his concept and builds
and encourages us to participate in its reworking by reflecting our images
bridges between his various series. For example, in one image from the
in his work. Through the many media he interweaves, Harb conveys the
Archaeology of Occupation, a concrete barrier hovers just over the land,
complexities of memory and longing that define the intractable state of
looking as though it is ready to settle down, poised to crush the man
Palestinians without resorting to overwrought symbolism. In doing so, Harb
sitting in the field beneath it. While the man and barrier are suspended
opens the work up to deeper reflections on the very nature of remembering,
in perpetual and dreadful tension in Harbâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s collage, the full weight of the
power, and the politics of space.
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#13 and #15, from the series TAG (2015) Archival pigment print, collage, 50 x 70 cm
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#2, from the series DearLord, (2016) Archival pigment print, collage 100 x 17 cm Below: #1 and #3, from the series DearLord, (2016) Archival pigment print, collage 100 x 17 cm
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#1, from the series Reformulated Archeology (2018) Pencil on archival doc, and original photography of a woman from Gaza 1940 on hand made fine art paper, 58 x 76 cm, Below: #7 and #3, from the series Reformulated Archeology (2018) Pencil on archival doc, on hand made fine art paper, 58 x 76 cm,
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Land to Land (2017) Photography collage on fine art paper on wood, 105 x 80 cm #1, from the series Tiberius (2017) Photography collage on fine art paper, 105 x 80 cm Private Collection LACMA Los Angeles County Museum of Art
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#1, from the series Power Does Not Defeat Memory (2018) Photography and collage on fine art paper, 102 x 82 cm
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Clockwise: #5, #4, #6 and #7 from the series Power Does Not Defeat Memory (2018) Photography and collage on fine art paper, 102 x 82 cm,
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1# and #2 Memorial Architecture (2016) Photography and acrylic on collage on fine art paper mounted on wood 102 x 91 cm
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Untitled #27, from the series Archaeology of Occupation (2015) Archival pigment print, mounted on 3mm aluminium composite, 185 x 150 cm. Private collection Next Page: Untitled #2, from the series Archaeology of Occupation (2015) Archival pigment print, mounted on 3mm aluminium composite 172 x 120 cm.
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PROFILE Images - Courtesy of the artist. Writer - T. Khalifa, writer, researcher and independent curator.
Sima Zureikat: A Court for Reed and Rush A reinterpretation of Jordan’s landscape In today’s world, the photographer is faced with the
the desert. However, upon revisiting the sites years
quandary of how to create work with verisimilitude,
later, specifically after the Arab Spring, during a time
especially in a time where the medium has been
when Jordan was experiencing a high population-
marred by instant and filtered digital imagery. Sima
growth due to the influx of refugees hailing from
Zureikat (b. 1978), an American with Jordanian
neighbouring countries, the edges of the city she
heritage, has mastered this challenge by confronting
previously photographed were gone. ‘I just drove
her audience with a complex awareness, something
and drove and the city just kept going on,’ she
more than a click of her camera. In her work, A Court
explains, ‘so I thought maybe I’m thinking about it
for Reed and Rush, for the 30th anniversary of Darat
wrong. My thinking is too linear, (instead) I have to
al Funun, in Amman, Zureikat interprets an excerpt
think more in a circle.’
from a Mahmoud Darwish poem The truth is black, write over it with mirages of light in a triptych series.
Upon that conviction, her latest series began to
Tribe magazine sits down with Zureikat to get a better
take shape. For her triptych, Zureikat exchanges the
understanding of her passion, her drive and what has
placement of buildings, and then further re-exposes
inspired such an evocative rendering of the Jordanian
the original images and finishes by placing bodies
landscape.
of water in the centre. By bending the horizon into a hoop, she creates irises of juxtaposed buildings
Since Zureikat’s moved to Jordan in October 2001
surrounding what she calls her ‘mirages.’ When
upon completing her, B.A. in Studio Arts from Oberlin
asked what the mirages represent to her, Zureikat
College, Ohio. She hopped on a plane towards
elaborates, ‘The mirage is something that you desire
Jordan, to sate her need for connecting with her
to see but feels like it’s just outside your reach…the
heritage. ‘I just went crazy,’ she professes, ‘I just did
water in this sense represents life, fertile ground,
‘I do have to be surprised by the work. I usually start
everything, really experimental work, while I still
and sort of promise of life, you know, like a promise
with a very clear idea about what and why I want to
studied…the analogue process. I had a dark room and
of prosperity.’
do something or let’s say how I want to start. And why
I was doing all kinds of things with layering multiple
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I just did everything, really experimental work, while I still studied… the analogue process. I had a dark room and I was doing all kinds of things with layering multiple exposures, alternative processes and utilising different kinds of cameras.
I want to start but I don’t always have the complete
exposures, alternative processes and utilising different
Each piece displays one of three key sites: the city
picture of the end until I am in the middle of the
kinds of cameras. I fell in love with the landscape and
landscape of downtown Amman, the mountain
process…. There’s still so much to explore with as
Jordan. It gave me so much inspiration.’
terrain between Jordan and the Golan Heights,
Jordan, itself, keeps changing and because it keeps
and the agricultural region of the Ghor along the
changing work keeps changing.’
The series A Court for Reed and Rush is the outcome
Jordan River. Her multi-layered visions becoming
of resurrecting an older unfinished landscape project
an amalgamation of the past and the present.
A Court for Reed and Rush is in the group exhibition
entitled The Edge of Amman. The previously taken
Zureikat describes her work as a kind of alchemy,
‘Truth is black, write over it with a mirage’s light’ at
photographs captured the edges of the city; the
where she inextricably merges each element to
The Khalid Shoman Foundation: Darat Al Funun to
areas where the city’s boundaries tapered off into
create something completely new and remarkable.
celebrate the Foundation’s 30th Anniversary.
#1 Downtown, from the series A Court for Reed and Rush (2018) 110 x 110 cm
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#2 Downtown, from the series A Court for Reed and Rush (2018) 110 x 110 cm
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#3 Downtown, from the series A Court for Reed and Rush (2018) 110 x 110 cm
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PROFILE Images - Courtesy of the artist. Writer - Maha Alsharif, writer and critic.
Toufic Beyhum: Amoji Characterising masks and digital behaviours in Namibia Professional creative director, and humbly self-
To visualise this phenomenon, Beyhum chose a
shows in detail the exterior anatomy of an arm
proclaimed amateur photographer, Toufic Beyhum
comparatively primitive approach, in which rather
with tense, flexed biceps. In the emoji world, the
connects with his surroundings through the camera
than confronting it digitally, he made it tangible
icon connotes physical and mental strength. While
lens. Whether on his daily commute in Berlin or
and focused on capturing natural physical gestures
that interpretation is true to the image, Beyhum
attending Friday prayer in London, he is candidly
that occur behind the mask of a particular emoji.
extends the meaning by contrasting elements from
observant, in search of behavioural and sociological
He collaborated with two local artists to create six
classical Western and African art. In that, historically,
patterns and trends. Beyhum deliberately refrains
emojis in the form of wearable traditional African
Western art placed significance on accurate realism
from intervening in his environments, as to allow
masks, made from locally found material. In the
and physical perfection, while African art focused
his viewers access to an honest, reportage-like
following months, he drove around the country
on symbolism, cultural beliefs and functions. It is a
account of secrets that lie in the cultures that he
with the masks in a trunk and at random stops,
particularly interesting combination because most
encounters. Since relocating to Namibia, Beyhum
presented them to people and requested they select
relate to the symbol of strength in the image, and
continues to follow his natural urge to observe and
one for a picture. Through his process, Beyhum not
so it asserts the richness of African heritage and how
report. While he did experience a unique culture,
only identifies the power of iconography, but also
it has become a major pillar in today’s global visual
he noticed that influences of digital communication
identifies the pivotal role that African tradition plays
experiences.
have made their way through the fabric of society,
in contemporary visual culture. Much like it inspired
in which Namibians too, are speaking the universal
revolutionary art movements in the past, it maintains
Similarly composed, Folded Hands (2018) shows
language of emojis.
a robust connection to visualising human emotion
two hands in a praying position. In perfect symmetry
and expression, even in the digital age.
the hands come out of stacked square blocks of
Considering there are infinite variations and
concrete, as if the body is imprisoned. Symbolically,
combinations to communicate with emojis, Beyhum
Heart Himba (2018) is perhaps one of the most striking
the image speaks to freedom and spirituality. The
took interest in exploring the dialect created in
images from series. Taken in natural light, in a natural
concrete blocks represent industrialisation and, more
Namibia, and Africa in general. He conducted a
setting, and on what appears to be an ordinary day in
broadly, human accomplishments and civil order;
casual survey to characterise emoji preferences
Windhoek, the subject of the picture is remarkable. A
whereas the hands represent fear of the unknown and
and digital behaviours, which developed into the
Himba woman sits on the side of a street close to a
the instinct to ask for protection, clarity, serenity, and
concept, Amoji—or simply African emoji. He found
display of bangles for sale. She is wearing the smiling
blessing. Through connections between basic visual
that everyone he spoke to is familiar with and uses
face with heart-eyes mask. When presented with the
shapes, the image illustrates man’s innate gratitude
emojis, with the exception of a few who refer to
masks, Beyhum says ‘she laughed but couldn’t speak
and hopefulness.
them as expressions; the majority choose black
English and I couldn’t speak Oshihimba, which is their
emojis as opposed to light or neutral coloured
language.’ Nonetheless, he was able to communicate
In Amoji, Beyhum materialises universal digital icons
ones; and finally he concluded the most popular
his intention, and with little hesitation, the indigenous
into physical objects inspired by Namibian culture.
are: smiling face with heart-eyes, face with tears
woman agreed to model her favourite mask.
The final 36 colourful images take the viewer on a
of joy, grimacing face, pleading face, winking face
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journey of interactions, full smiles, cries and heart-
with tongue, crying face and grinning face with
Flexed Biceps (2018) is faceless yet instantly
filled eyes. Beyhum presents his personal experience
squinting eyes.
recognisable. Captured in daylight, the image
in Namibia, both in and out of the digital realm.
Flexed Biceps, from the series Amoji (2018)
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Vulcan and Raised Fist, from the series Amoji (2018)
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Folded Hands, from the series Amoji (2018)
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Clockwise: Yellow Bench, Crying, Heart Sunflowers and Shocked tires from the series Amoji (2018)
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Shocked Security from the series Amoji (2018)
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PROFILE Images - Courtesy of the artist. Writer - Sabrina DeTurk, art historian, curator, writer and educator.
Sara Naim: Building Blocks Blurring the boundaries of memory Soap from Aleppo, jasmine flowers and soil
came to see them as descriptive elements in the
from her grandmother’s garden—these are the
work in their own right. According to the glitches,
materials that artist Sara Naim uses to explore
which, ultimately, she began to intentionally
her relationship to her native Syria, a location no
introduce and embrace in the scanned output,
longer physically accessible to her but which still
help you realize that you don’t know something as
looms large in her imagination and memory. Naim
well as you think you do—a disorientation which
describes her nostalgia for Syria as “warped,”
is connected to the experience of nostalgia. In
in that the longer she is distanced from her
a video work included in Building Blocks Naim
homeland, the more her view becomes skewed,
filmed the monitor that shows her navigating the
her memories blurred.
microscope across a sample. The nature of the process is such that a tiny sample of material can
In Building Blocks, Naim’s second solo exhibition
be navigated for hours, as the artist searches for
at Dubai’s Third Line Gallery, the artist illustrates
its boundaries, looking for the edge. As the search
the push and pull between memory and materiality
plays out on screen, the viewer becomes lost in
in sculpture, video and photographic works. Naim
the abstraction of the sample, its material reality
used a scanning electron microscope to explore
transformed into a surreal landscape. Naim notes
the cellular structures of the Aleppo soap as well
that this tool, the scanning electron microscope,
as the jasmine and soil that her grandmother sent
thus functions in a way that blurs boundaries and
her from Syria. The large-scale C-type digital prints
to complicate vision, despite our assumption that
that are exhibited capture a visual journey into the
it is a technology intended to make visible and
of the soap samples as envisioned in the photo
terrain of that which is at once intensely familiar
to clarify.
prints to the material reality of the soap structures
and yet, paradoxically, becomes through micro-
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The nature of the process is such that a tiny sample of material can be navigated for hours, as the artist searches for its boundaries, looking for the edge on the gallery floor.
inspection wholly unknown. The shift between
The photos and video are complemented by
macro and micro and the idea of breaking down
sculptural installations made from the same Aleppo
Naim is conscious of the “exoticism” that
boundaries by looking at basic structures of these
soap used in the samples for scanning under the
is sometimes projected onto Syria and the
nostalgic materials is central to the artist’s practice.
microscope. Naim had the soap manufactured in
possibility, which she herself has to guard against,
That her own dead skin cells become incorporated
Syria, each bar stamped with the phrase “building
of “fetishizing” the country and its people. She
into the samples as she works with them further
block.” They are arranged in simple structures,
views her work as not as an exercise in fetishistic
complicates and enriches her exploration.
the dull tan of the soap recalling the stone used
nostalgia, however, but rather as a practice that
in construction of traditional Syrian architecture.
has allowed her to become more engaged with
Naim is also intrigued by the glitches that are
The blocks are built up in layers, evoking the
her parents and the stories of their lives in Syria, as
introduced into her work through errors in the
metaphor of a cell as a building block. Thus, the
a way of remembering something she was never
microscope’s scanning process. Originally, she was
shift between macro and micro is again apparent
a part of and connecting to a physical past she
offended by these unintentional errors but then
as the viewer glances from the abstracted detail
will never know.
Form #1 (2018) Digital print, wood, plexiglass, 70 x 84 cm
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Form #3 (2018) Digital print, wood, plexiglass, (2018) 167 x 108.7 cm
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Form #6 (2018) Digital print, wood, plexiglass, 182 x 143 cm
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Form #5 (2018) Digital print, wood, plexiglass, 239 x 300 cm
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Form #8 (2018) Digital print, wood, plexiglass, 106 x 90 cm
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PROFILE Images - Courtesy of the artist. Writer - Katherine Lawson, researcher, curator and arts educator
Nadim Asfar: Habiter le jour Between body, tool and place The paradigmatic shift of what has been identified
the shifting of their weight and gait; the relationship
as the spatial turn has spawned a reconsideration of
they have with their own shadow.
different visual and textual representations of space, more specifically but not limited to urban space and
In Michel de Certeau’s The Practice of Everyday
the metropolis. As language acts and conduit for
Life, he positions the city walker as an agent
the experience and interpretation of space, fictional
who is constantly transforming spatial signifiers
and factual accounts of cities provide an opportunity
or manipulating the very foundations of spatial
to map a web of peripatetic, phenomenological
organization, an idea founded on the conception
and optical experiences—varying in their historical,
of space as a finite number of stable, isolatable and
social, material and geopolitical conditions. Within
interconnected properties. Pedestrian movement,
a multidimensional framework, space is viewed as
rather than merely producing a graphic trail, has the
a dynamic, flexible actor playing a crucial role in the
ability to occupy a space of enunciation, it is an activity
creation of social life.
which structures determining conditions of the city and of its social life. Asfar’s photographs serve as an
In Habiter le Jour, Nadim Asfar develops a visual
evocative manifestation of this principle, as we image
language to capture the textures, lines and bodies
the paths each pedestrian carves through the city
of contemporary Beirut from his home and studio
over time continually make and unmake the space
overlooking a dynamic crossing in the city. In a series
around them.
of photographs taken over several years by the
As opposed to contemplation, here one deals with
French-Lebanese artist, parked cars, neighbourhood
In 2018, the photographs were published in an
pure action: the trees that grow, the clouds that pass
balconies and passersby are framed and fixed from
eponymous book by Kaph Books with text by Hisham
by, the rivers, which move in a profound and powerful
three stories up. As a photographer and filmmaker,
Awad and the artist himself, which allow the viewer to
unconsciousness.
Asfar’s mastery of both still and moving image come
situate Asfar within the constellation of stolen glances
across through the way the photographs seem to be
that Habiter le Jour offers. Through writing, we come
In the photographs themselves, there are limited
suspended between the two, akin to the cinematic
to understand the ritual of his sustained engagement
visual cues to give a sense of place aside from the
still—there is an arresting sense of dynamism, of a part
with the street below and his dance with the blistering
architectural signifiers of surrounding apartments—
of a greater whole. The subtlety with which quotidian
mid-day sun. We become privy to his consideration of
figures move towards and away from undisclosed
details of these minimal street scenes are captured
photography as an embodied practice, as a constant
locations. Instead, these images ask us to tune our
allow the project to resist the sterile aesthetics of
negotiation between body, tool and place. He claims:
senses to the other more latent or subdued layers
surveillance or typology. Despite the fact that the bird’s
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The subtlety with which quotidian details of these minimal street scenes are captured allow the project to resist the sterile aesthetics of surveillance or typology.
that come to form public space in all its fluctuations.
eye view of anonymous pedestrians do not allow for
Writing and photographing are acts of disappearing
In looking at the body of work as a whole, a rhythm
the default practice of facial recognition, they come
and preserving oneself in the strength of words or
emerges through the artist’s intuitive choice of framing
to serve as intimate portraits through a different kind
images. ‘Perhaps I was not only looking to inhabit,
and composition that create new poetic possibilities
of presence: through the most minute of gestures or
but also to become a place, like the trees are a place.’
in imagining urban space and its inhabitants.
From the project Habiter le Jour (2004-2011)
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From the project Habiter le Jour (2004-2011)
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From the project Habiter le Jour (2004-2011)
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PROFILE Images - Courtesy of the artist. Writer - Emma Warburton, arts writer and researcher. Adapted from text by the artist.
Walid Layadi-Marfouk: RIAD Breaking preconceptions to resonate beyond cultural boundaries On August 10, 2016, the New York Times Magazine
attitudes towards Islam have been patterned by the
entrapped within a complex framework of thought
devoted an entire special issue to the Middle East
stories we hear, one news report after another. This
that it does not belong to, and it relinquishes
and its recent history of conflict and violence. One
collective ignorance has spawned a brand of fear
ownership of its own identity.
notable article, the only article in the entire issue
that we are all familiar with, however the issue is not
in fact, featured a comprehensive timeline of the
simply one of misinformation. If the Middle East,
As a young adult educated in Europe and the
turmoil the region is infamous for. From the Six-Day
North Africa, and their cultures are almost exclusively
U.S., Layadi-Marfouk acknowledges that he is
war of 1967 in the Sinai peninsula to the freeing
pictured in dire conditions, factual enlightenment
partially unqualified to discuss the ‘general muslim
of Palmyra from Daesh last summer, the in-depth
cannot—will not—suffice to reverse the deadly
experience’ (if ever such a blanket term carried
account is a critically acclaimed and remarkable
ideologies and problematic politics that have arisen
any meaning). But by telling his own story and
piece. Its ability to synthesize and clarify some
out of years of mis-education.
photographing people close to him, the artist
of the most complex issues in the region, and of
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attempts to shift the paradigm and bring diversity
our time, deserves the highest of praises. Yet, the
Growing up in Morocco, Walid Layadi-Marfouk was
to the Western-centric dialogue on Muslim culture
article is also evidence of an evil that has pervaded
fortunate to be surrounded by some wonderful
and its people.
the perception of the Middle East in the collective
men and women who remain in his life today. He
Western mind since before the artist was born. Ever
describes these relatives and friends—the people
Riad seeks to present its subjects in Middle
since the mid 90s, the region—and by association,
who shaped his upbringing—with admiration and
Eastern narratives that are unique to them, and
all Muslim cultures—has chiefly been represented
respect. Yet he expresses his disappointment in the
that transcend the oversimplified and generic ones
in contexts of violence, religious extremism, war,
inadequacy of language to describe people without
on offer in the mainstream media, because “...
bigotry and so on. Such depictions have at time
limiting them to a type, or an expectation. To the
singular identities are too often mischaracterized
been necessary, to catalyze world mobilization in
artist, glorifying the word “strong,” for instance, when
or even uncharacterized, and stripped of their
the face of human tragedy. But unfortunately these
describing a woman is to suggest that strength for
own individuality...” The artist uses himself and
representations are so prominent that they dwarf all
her is a special accomplishment. “In [photographs]
his relatives as subjects, and pictures them in
other aspects of Middle Eastern, North African, and
women are too often represented as soulful and
the ancestral home of his great-grandfather, in
Muslim cultures in Western mainstream media. The
resigned, sitting, holding their heads or praying—
Marrakech. Constructing a deeply personal visual
average American or European asked about Islam
while men are more likely to be shown standing
language, Layadi-Marfouk tries to separate these
is likely to conjure grim images of veiled figures or
and combative.” Layadi-Marfouk is generally
individuals from any preconceptions embedded in
sandy ruins—strikingly similar, in fact, to the main
opposed to these oversimplified representations
traditional Western imagery. Shot in an analog 4 x
image featured in the aforementioned New York
of roles and identities. He finds problems, too, with
5 chamber, the images are imbued with intimate,
Times special issue.
cultures being represented in the terms and codes
sentimental and empathetic quality, allowing them
of outsiders. Indeed, an argument could be made
to resonate beyond cultural boundaries. The world
Somehow, and tragically, these images have replaced
that certain adjectives and expressions in any given
of Riad is a self-contained environment, a reality of
all other possible representations of the culture and
language are necessary to build understanding and
its own, an island of autonomy and power in which
people of Islam. Abundant histories have been
empathy between groups. But when a culture is
the audience can perceive a sliver of Islamic culture
flattened by one sad, continuous narrative. Our
entirely described by an outsider’s codes, it becomes
in Morocco the way the artist did and still does.
Houma Bjouj (Comeradeship in Love) (2017) Archival pigment print, 111.8 x 90.2 cm
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In Memoriam (Her) and In Memoriam (Him) (2017) Archival pigment print, 111.8 x 90.2 cm
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Oum (Mother) (2017) Archival pigment, 111.8 x 90.2 cm
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Haya Jat (Starifixion) (2017) Archival pigment print, 111.8 x 90.2
NEW MEDIA Images - Courtesy of artist and Darat al Funun. Writer - Joud Halawani Al-Tamimi, curator.
Mo’awia Bajis: Sounds of the City An audiovisual archive of multilayered urban experience Sounds of the City is an audiovisual installation
Traversing the quotidian and the political, Sound
by artist Mo’awia Bajis, part of Darat al Funun’s
of the City likewise reflects the disparities and
30th anniversary group exhibition. Delivering
contradictions characterizing a capital undergoing
an immersive sonic and visual experience, the
aggressive neoliberalisation and rapid urban
work features self-recorded sounds and videos
growth. The work as such reflects Bajis’ interest
from the urban scape of Amman. The scenes
in power and public space, or the ways in which
captured on a three-channel video projection
the political shapes the everyday. The young
deliver continuous contextual shifts fraught with
emerging artist believes that “urban elements
tension, moving back and forth between refugee
and objects can tell us a lot about existent
camps, informal markets, extravagant residential
hierarchies.”
areas, high-end supermarkets, working-class cafes, public schools and shopping malls.
The sociopolitical dimension of the audible becomes evident as sounds come to manifest
The effect is further heightened by the myriad
growing disparities. Low-income areas frequently
sounds that Bajis has been documenting
appear to be louder than the richer parts of
incessantly over the course of one year. The
Amman and their discourses are markedly
viewer is met with everything from cha’abi music
different. In a city where gentrification and
to the sounds of unofficial street sellers, fridges,
commercialisation have already exacerbated
Fourth Circle protestors, security forces, young
an entrenched socio-spatial segregation,
students and fervent football fans. The result is
Bajis presents an apt sociopolitical reading of
motive, however, is the transience of sound versus
a soundscape that submerges the viewer in a
the place, casting a critical lens on rampant
the more lasting essence of what is captured
multilayered urban experience.
inequities, dispossessions and erasures.
by video. The ephemeral nature of the sounds that narrate our cities comes with anxiety for
These sonic and visual experiences probe the
The artist’s interest in sound is twofold, and
Bajis, who is keen on recording stories that
complex identity of the city. The appearance of
it underscores his multidisciplinary approach.
speak to our collective memory before they
chanting football fans crowding up the streets
According to Bajis, “images provide a limited
vanish or disappear. This anxiety is intensified
and public squares might seem random at first
scope for imagination.” Bajis believes that the
by the accelerated pace of social, cultural and
glance, but to anyone who is familiar with the
various layers and textures of an urban scape
economic transformations. “In such a context, the
history of the country it evokes an identity politics
are impossible to record through image alone;
preservation of memory becomes increasingly
that has long shaped the trajectory of Amman.
“sound enables us to better understand latent
important,” insists Bajis. In a way, the work comes
Everyday scenes from Palestinian refugee camps
complexities and contradictions.”
to denote a protest against forgetting.
histories that have come to shape the city’s
The decision to combine image with sound
Sounds of the City, part of Darat al Funun’s 30th
development over the years.
is thus a strategic one. An equally significant
anniversary group exhibition.
are similarly reminiscent of all the layers and
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Sounds of the City, Audiovisual installation Sounds of the City, Stills from audiovisual work
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NEW MEDIA Images - Courtesy of artist. Writer - Corinna Ghaznavi, curator.
Jamelie Hassan: Neither from the East nor the West Complex connections through fragments of a verse
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Jamelie Hassan’s Neither From the East Nor the West
Hassan’s parents moved to Canada from Lebanon in
is an installation consisting of eleven log cut sections,
1914 and 1939. Hassan grew up in a small Canadian
mirror plastic panels with colour photography, and a
city in southwestern Ontario, a first generation
wall mounted roundel of calligraphy.
Canadian in a large Arabic household. Hassan
studied in Paris, Rome, Beirut and Baghdad and
The logs originate from a Norway Maple tree that
also has travelled extensively through Mexico,
fell during a storm on the artist’s property in London,
Cuba, Europe, the Middle East, India and China.
in the province of Ontario, Canada. When cut up for
Her work often references cultural exchange
firewood the interior of the tree revealed intricate
using traditional and contemporary art forms.
hollows and patterns like arabesque forms that had
Hassan complicates histories, representation
been hidden beneath the exterior of the tree trunk.
and constructions. Her resistance to binaries
Inspired by these forms and their relationship to
opens up ways of including contradictions and
Arabic calligraphy, Hassan inserted photographed
discontinuities, and reconsidering how the foreign
fragments from the Nur verse in the Qur’an that is
and familiar combine to create both distinct and
found on the ceiling of the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul,
fluid cultures. Neither from the east nor the west
Turkey. Printed on mirror plastic the panels are
takes a quintessentially ‘Canadian’ tree, a maple,
inserted into nine of the eleven sections of log both
wherein arabesque forms are found, and connects it
the very nature of migration and new contexts
illuminating the cross sections and obscuring them on
to the wood of a sacred olive tree; using calligraphy
means that some references have become lost
the one side. The Nur verse is about light: Allah is the
she combines a traditional Arabic form with new
or are recuperated into new contexts. Neither of
light of the heavens and the earth. The example of his
media and found, site specific material, to create
the east nor of the west does not signify a lack of
light is like a niche within which is a lamp, the lamp is
an installation that demonstrates the connections
location but rather an alternative space where the
within a glass, the glass as if it were a pearly [white]
and discontinuities of cultures. Depending on the
connections and meanings are fluid and changing,
star lit from [the oil of] a blessed olive tree neither of
viewer, the calligraphy may be read or may appear
and where the whole is never fully transparent nor
the east nor of the west, whose oil would almost glow
as aesthetic form the mirrored surface of the panel
does it perhaps exist at all.
even if untouched by fire. In a gesture typical for her
both holds the form and resists penetration. Pulling
practice Hassan pulls together diverse references,
together the various threads we have a Qur’an
As history commences, migration occurs, new
geographies, the secular and the spiritual, to create
verse that relates the light that is Allah, a light that
allegiances are formed and traditions combine with
an installation that addresses complex connections.
is universal; forms that connect found in the natural
the new. Links between individuals, geographies
Light reveals intricate arabesque forms within the
world, and a culturally distinct script; the secular and
and communities complicate, creating culturally
hollows of the tree trunk; the hollows allow light
spiritual, traditional and contemporary, and distinct
distinct, specific and open identities. Splitting open
to penetrate and cast shadows, while the mirrored
geographical locations. One does not need to
a log in southwestern Ontario reveals references
panels reflect and radiate the light.
‘know’ all to be embedded in this artwork because
to an Arabic script that aresilent yet illuminating.
From the series Neither From the East Nor the West (2014) Dimensions variable 11 maple wood log sections; digital photography mounted onto mirror plastic, blue wall paint Photo credit: Rehab Nazzal
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SERIES Artist - From Egypt, lives and works in Cairo. Images - Courtesy of the artist.
Ahmad El Abi: Selfie Destruction “It’s important to love what you do,” states Ahmad El Abi, an Egyptian artist who left a career in medicine to follow his true passion and devotion to conceptual arts. He takes a hands-on approach with his projects, from ideation to delivery. His work reflects diverse subjects inspired by people and their everyday experiences. El Abi always seeks to develop new ways of embodying visual impulses in his artwork. Often El Abi begins with writing down random ideas inspired by the daily situations he comes across. He visualizes them and builds on them and rarely sketches before staging his photographs. Instead, he relies on his faculties of imagination and improvisation to guide the artistic process. El Abi buys and collects objects and props all the time, even when he doesn’t have a plan for when or where he will use them. Because El Abi can never predict what will inspire him.
El-Abi is an Egyptian artist who transitioned from medicine into the creative field of art making. His work has been featured in numerous print and online international publications, as well as at major art exhibitions in Egypt, the UAE and France. Alongside his private artistic practice, El-Abi currently works as a senior art director in an international advertising agency in Cairo.
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The Anatomical Mask, from the series Selfie Destruction (2015)
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Clockwise: The Safety Officer (2018) The Bird Man (2017) The Muppet Man (2015) The Gift (2015) From the series Selfie Destruction.
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The Extensive Celebration, from the series Selfie Destruction (2016)
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SERIES Artist - From Syria, lives and works in Damascus. Images - Courtesy of the artist.
Ayham Jabr: Collage Works Ayham Jabrâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s collage work exists between science fiction and autobiography. The artist uses the internet, magazines, archival photographs, scans and other sources to juxtapose imagery from his surroundings of Damascus, Syria, with alien landscapes and references to outer space. The resulting images use a unique visual vocabulary to articulate the surrealistic details and absurdities of war. Jabr sees collage as a form of communication, just like painting, music and poetry.
Jabr is a surreal collage artist, a video editor, a videographer and a graphic designer. He studied electronics at Damascus University, and continues to live there. He spends most of his time working in his small studio or walking through the old city. He works as a video editor for a televised series and is currently focusing on a short tele-documentary.
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Internal Landscape (2017) Digital collage, 34 x 47 cm
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Previous page: The Clear Message (2017) Digital collage, 21 x 32 cm Damascus Under Siege (2016) Digital collage, 43 x 58 cm A fleet of martian spacecrafts besieges and surrounds Damascus, the oldest capital in the world. With as they claim, “We Came For Peace”. And ends in the total annihilation… To THEM.
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Surah (2016) Digital collage, 34 x 51 cm The Visionary of Wayfaring (2017) Digital collage, 32 x 46 cm
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The Guardian of Life (2017) Digital collage, 34 x 47 cm
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SERIES Artist - From Morocco, lives and works in Marrakech. Images - Courtesy of the artist.
Ismail Zaidy: Personal World Twenty-one year old Ismail Zaidy was born and raised in Marrakech, Morocco, where he completed a BA in International Management in 2018 from Cadi Ayad. Zaidy started taking pictures during the summer of 2017 as a way of capturing his artistic perspective on his personal world. From his experiments in photography, Zaidy has developed a style that is abstract and minimalist. He takes the majority of his photos with a Samsung phone. Family is intrinsic to the artistâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s creativity, and his siblings appear in much of his work.
Zaidy lives and works in Marrakech, Morocco. In 2018, he was awarded Instagram Account of the Year at the Maroc Web Awards and was named one of five top photographers of the year by VSCO Edge to Edge. Zaidy was also interviewed for CNN Arabia, and for an upcoming article in Vice: Arabia. The artist has a future collaboration planned with Habibi Funk at Hassan Hajjaj Mi Casa su Casa for the 1-54 art fair in Marrakesh. @L4artiste
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Catch A Dream (2018) The orange is symbolic of the artist. The image of the cloud is a reflection of our dreams.
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Silence Speaks (2018)
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Fatima Zohra (2018) Moroccan artists are not given a creative platform, so I felt the need to shine the light; Orange symbolises the artist.
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Equality (2018) Two young people refusing to adhere to sexual divisions/inequality Next page: Strained Bonds (2018) Creatives pulling against each other despite having the same objectives.
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SERIES Artist - From Algeria / France, lives and works in London. Images - Courtesy of the artist.
Hamida Zourgui: Digital Collage Growing up in France, Hamida Zourguiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Algerian background played a major role in the construction of her identity, which is a recurring subject in her work. The artist works primarily in mixed media collages often make reference to cultural duality, colonialism, as well as the female spirit and body. Zourgui often strives for fresh portrayals of the Algerian woman, and her work illustrates her interest in aesthetically and conceptually moving away from the typical notions of Orientalism that have tinted collective views of modern Algerian women. Zourgui has said that her background in art history has played a significant role in her approach to art-making, as the artist often appropriates and repurposes archival images from the French occupation of Algeria into her work.
Zourgui is a French-Algerian mixed media artist based in London. She has an MA in art history and sociology and has worked in museums and art spaces in varying capacities. With the Muslim female artists collective Variant Space, Zougui showcased her work in London and New York. The artist has also given talks as part of the Pop Art from North Africa collective exhibition at the P21 Gallery in London. Zourgui holds the post of assistant curator at Variant Space, London, and is a freelance art journalist.
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Alf Hila ou Hila (2018)
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Clockwise: Lasnamia, Golden and Choufou el Hila (2018)
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Hayek (2019)
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From the series Insight Into Nature (2017)
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From the series Insight Into Nature (2017)
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SERIES Artist - From Lebanon, lives and works in Beirut. Images - Courtesy of the artist.
Shogh Ian: Faceless People of Renaissance Shogh Ian has been experimenting and creating from a young age. Art was always a fascination, and a way for the artist to think on and engage with her environment. Ian began making art with a pen and paper, moving to oil and brushes and eventually practising with digital mediums and her computer. For Ian, concepts are more important than materials and tools. The artistâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s work is informed by mood, emotion and intuition, and deals with themes of infinity and energy. Of her work, Ian has said â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;I want people to ask themselves questions such as, how do I identify myself, beyond familial and social conditioning? Is it possible to be spontaneous, real and authentic? What are the masks that I wear, and who is behind them? Why do we seek to escape reality? Essentially, who am I, as an individual?â&#x20AC;&#x2122;
Shogh Ian was born to Lebanese Armenian parents. Her interest in color and form was apparent at an early age, and she later took formal studies in Fine Art and Interior Architecture. Over the past few years Ian has participated in numerous group exhibitions and shown her work alongside many talented Lebanese artists. At present, she lives and works in Beirut, where she maintains an active art practice.
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The Melting Mask, from the series Faceless People of Renaissance (2018) 50 x 65 cm
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The Witnesser, from the series Faceless People of Renaissance (2018) 20 x 29 cm
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Clockwise: Clown 30 x 42 cm, Portrait II, 50 x 65 cm; The girl with an ermine, 50 x 65 cm; Portrait III 50 x 65 cm from the series Faceless People of Renaissance (2018)
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PROJECT SPACE Various Images from Instagram account
Low-Rez: Fares Akhaoui
and World Music. For
Jump-starting a platform for emerging creators
has negative and
Akhaoui, the internet positive aspects but Low-Rez would not have been possible
Fares Akhaoui is the creator of Low-Rez, a photography and culture magazine,
without the internet.
which originated out of the realisation that many of his friends were interested
In discussion about the
in having their work seen, but did not know where to show it.
current pace we live in he states ‘The internet
‘Well, this first issue is really just some of my photography and just a kind
is cool though, you can
of tester for me, as it’s my first-time publishing anything,’ said Akhaoui.
look up whatever you
The first issue by Akhaoui was an experiment, and his first experience in
need when only 30
publishing. ‘For the future, however, I want to make it a haven for up and
years ago people had to go to libraries and look things up. I can’t imagine
coming artists. Whether that be through interviews or photoshoots or even
how much more effort that must’ve taken. It’s a more complicated time but
being featured on Low-Rez radio—a weekly Spotify playlist that I’ve been
I can’t really imagine being born before it.’
making,’ continues Akhaoui. Digital photographers like Rinko Kawauchi and Wolfgang Tillmans are some of
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Akhaoui’s main goal is to become a filmmaker. There are also various
Akhaoui’s favourite artists. He has a strong appreciation for experimentation,
filmmakers that have inspired his projects. ‘So a lot of films come to mind,
and finds sticking to one medium, such as film or digital imaging, limiting.
Jonas Mekas’s As I was moving ahead occasionally I saw brief glimpses of
The ability to experiment with a variety of media and sources provides a lot
life is probably my main source of inspiration for Low-Rez. David Lynch’s work
more potential to develop and explore. Akhaoui looks to the future: ‘I want
and the distortion of reality he shows in his films is another huge source of
to start shooting more on digital but I just need to graduate high school
inspiration.’ He also is motivated by a variety of music from Pop, Rap, Ambient,
before I really go out and start planning.’
ART DUBAI CONTEMPORARY ADDIS FINE ART, Addis Ababa · AGIAL ART, Beirut · AICON ART, New York · AKAR PRAKAR, Kolkata / New Delhi · ANDERSEN’S, Copenhagen · ASPAN, Almaty · PIERO ATCHUGARRY, Pueblo Garzón / Miami · ATHR, Jeddah · ATISS DAKAR, Dakar · AYYAM, Dubai · CARBON 12, Dubai · GALLERIA CONTINUA, San Gimignano / Beijing / Les Moulins / Havana · CUSTOT, Dubai · DASTAN’S BASEMENT, Tehran · ERTI, Tbilisi · EXPERIMENTER, Kolkata · ISABELLE VAN DEN EYNDE, Dubai · GAZELLI ART HOUSE, Baku / London · GREEN ART GALLERY, Dubai · GROSVENOR, London · HAFEZ, Jeddah · LEILA HELLER, Dubai / New York · KRISTIN HJELLEGJERDE, London / Berlin · IN SITU-FABIENNE LECLERC, Paris · MICHAEL JANSSEN, Berlin · DR. DOROTHEA VAN DER KOELEN, Mainz / Venice · KORNFELD, Berlin · KRINZINGER, Vienna · ANNA LAUDEL, Istanbul · LAWRIE SHABIBI, Dubai · CHRISTIAN LETHERT, Cologne · MAM, Douala · MEEM, Dubai · VICTORIA MIRO, London / Venice · FRANCO NOERO, Turin · OFFICINE DELL’IMMAGINE, Milan · ORBITAL DAGO, Bandung · OTA FINE ARTS, Shangai / Singapore / Tokyo · GIORGIO PERSANO, Turin · PRIMO MARELLA, Milan / Lugano · PROJECT ARTBEAT, Tbilisi · RONCHINI, London · THE ROOSTER, Vilnius · ROSENFELD PORCINI, London · SANATORIUM, Istanbul · SEISMASUNO, Madrid · SFEIR-SEMLER, Beirut / Hamburg · SMAC, Johannesburg / Cape Town / Stellenbosch · FILOMENA SOARES, Lisbon · SPRÜTH MAGERS, Berlin / London / Los Angeles · WALTER STORMS, Munich · TORE SUESSBIER, Berlin · TEMPLON, Paris / Brussels · THE THIRD LINE, Dubai · VOICE, Marrakech · WADI FINAN, Amman · ZAWYEH, Ramallah · ZIDOUN-BOSSUYT, Luxembourg · ZILBERMAN, Istanbul / Berlin BAWWABA · Curated by Élise Atangana 856G, Mandaue City – Kristoffer Ardeña · AICON CONTEMPORARY, New York – Adeela Suleman · ANNE-SARAH BÉNICHOU, Paris – Chourouk Hriech · CANVAS, Karachi – Hamra Abbas · GUZO ART PROJECTS, Addis Ababa – Wanja Kimani · GYPSUM, Cairo – Gözde İlkin · EMMANUEL HERVÉ, Paris – Sérgio Sister · JHAVERI CONTEMPORARY, Mumbai – Shezad Dawood · PERVE GALERIA, Lisbon – José Chambel · VERMELHO, São Paulo – Marcelo Moscheta RESIDENTS · Curated by Fernanda Brenner & Munira Al Sayegh A GENTIL CARIOCA, Rio de Janeiro – Laura Lima · PIERO ATCHUGARRY, Pueblo Garzón / Miami – Verónica Vázquez · BARRO, Buenos Aires – Nicanor Aráoz · RUTH BENZACAR, Buenos Aires – Luciana Lamothe · CASA TRIÂNGULO, São Paulo – Rodolpho Parigi · GALLERIA CONTINUA, San Gimignano / Beijing / Les Moulins / Havana – José Manuel Mesías · INSTITUTO DE VISIÓN, Bogotá – Mazenett Quiroga · MENDES WOOD DM, São Paulo / Brussels / New York – Luiz Roque · GALERIA PILAR, São Paulo – Flora Rebollo · REVOLVER, Lima / Buenos Aires – Jerry B. Martin · SERVANDO, Havana – Luis Enrique López-Chávez · LUISA STRINA, São Paulo – Alexandre da Cunha ART DUBAI MODERN DAG, New Delhi / Mumbai / New York · DHOOMIMAL GALLERY, New Delhi · ELMARSA GALLERY, Tunis / Dubai · GROSVENOR GALLERY, London · MARK HACHEM, Beirut / Paris / New York · HAFEZ GALLERY, Jeddah · GALLERY ONE, Ramallah · PERVE GALERIA, Lisbon · SANCHIT ART, New Delhi · TAFETA, London · UBUNTU ART GALLERY, Cairo