Light from the Middle East: New Photography.

Light from the Middle East: New Photography is the first major exhibition of photography about the Middle East. The exhibition showcases more than 90 works from various artists across the area. It is currently showing at the Victoria and Albert Museum. I heard about it from receiving a leaflet from The Royal Photographic Society (with whom I am a member) and was keen to go. I am conscious of the fact that I do not view enough of other photographers work and I am hoping to change this. The exhibition opened 13th November and runs until 7th April 2013. I am aware for the foreseeable future that I will not be able to get sufficient time to visit London and view it in person so I have managed to access a lot of the images online. I am very aware that this is no where near the same as standing in front of the image but I was keen to view the exhibition. If I do get a chance to visit then I will update this post.

 

"The exhibition explores the ways in which these artists investigate the language and techniques of photography". It is divided into three sections, recording, reframing and resisting. Each section focuses on a different approach to photography.

 

Recording.

 

Photography is a way of recording various events in life as well as people and places. Photographs can trigger memories or reveal something the viewer may not have been able to see in person. They can mean many different things to many people as each person can interpret them differently. The photographers in the recording section use a variety of methods and techniques to explore how the camera can record a moment.

Newsha Tavakolian from the series 'Mothers of Martyrs' shows elderly Iranian women holding up images of their sons who had died decades before in the Iran-Iraq war. I think that it is such a strong idea behind these photographs. You get a sense of sadness but also that the mothers are proud of their sons.




Ahmed Mater 'Magnetism II' is part of a series produced to recreate well known scenes but on a different scale. This image represents "pilgrims circling the Ka'ba, the sacred building at the heart of the sanctuary at Mecca". This image refers to the spiritual force of Muslims being drawn to Mecca. The literal image shows a magnetic cube in the centre of iron fillings spiralling around it. This image in particular really inspires me to think about the meaning behind the photographs I am taking.

Reframing.

"The artists in this section appropriate or imitate images from the past in order to make statements about the present". The original source may be fashion photography or portraits, from paintings or photographs.



Here Hassan Hajjaj juxtaposes east and west in his image intitled 'Saida in Green'. It shows a young woman from the east wearing a traditional veil but its shows the logo of Louis Vuitton, a western designer. I find the contrast in this shot interesting as it has a good concept. Although I am sure I have seen similar ideas elsewhere.

Resisting.

" The artists in this section question the idea that a photograph can tell the truth". Some of the artists have digitally altered the images or scratch and burn them. Some of the images created become indistinguishable and hard to interpret. This section rejects the idea that photography always shows the truth and accuracy.



John Jurayj 'Untitled (Large embassy with red mirror #1)' shows the brutality of war having been taken out on a photograph by burning holes in it. The holes have then been filled in with red, mirrored plexiglas.The actual image is a news photograph of the US embassy in Beirut that was bombed in 1984 which has then been enlarged so that it appears almost abstract. If you did not know the story behind it you would think that someone has made a serious of black and white rectangles and then added red dots all over it. Again I like that there is a story behind the image.



 Taraneh Hemami 'Most Wanted' explores how cultures are represented and identified. Here mugshots have been downloaded from the US government website just after 9/11 and have then been digitally altered so that features become unrecognisable and blurry. Hemami has then scratched over the print so that it is defaced further. What remains are headscarves etc which shows the stereotypical western view of Muslims. I think that this is clever how this has been done and does illustrate the concept well. I am wondering whether this is borderline racism but maybe that is the point Hemami is trying to make.


Generally looking through the whole exhibition it has made me think of the ideas behind the images I take. Should I be putting more thought into the stories behind them? I think that viewing these images has been a worthwhile exercise and really made me question the process I go though. It has made me want to undertake some kind of personal project and develop my own ideas and creativity.





http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/exhibitions/exhibition-light-from-the-middle-east-new-photography/about-the-exhibition/