|
8. oktober 2003]
Interviews
Tarek Al-Ghoussein: Untitled
Five From Afar
A cultural Exchange between the Emirates of Sharjah
(UAE) and The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts.
Interviews
med Karima Mohd Al Shomely og Tarek Al-Ghoussein
kopenhagen tog til pressevisning på Q Space
i Peder Skramsgade og mødte to kunstnere fra Sharjah, et
af emiraterne i De Forenede Arabiske Emirater (UEA). Udstillingen
er en del af et kulturudvekslingsprogram mellem Shajah og Danmark,
forestået af Dorthe Dahlin og Else Marie Bukdahl på
vegne af Kulturministeriet og udenrigsministeriet.
Interview: Djamila Hansen, foto: Torben Zenth.
Five From Afar
5 kunstnere fra Emiratet af Sharjah (UAE)
1. oktober - 17. oktober
Q Space - Kunstakademiets Udstillingssted
Peder Skrams Gade 2, København
Ma- fr 14-17, weekend 12-17
Om udstillingen
på www.kunstakademiet.dk
 
Fra åbningen
An interview with Karima Mohd Al Shomely.
Karima was born in 1965 in Sharjah and studied
economy and accounting from UAE University.
 
Djamila Hansen og Karima Mohd Al Shomely
Karima, what made you change your professional life from economy
to art?
When I graduated from high school there was no college of art
in Sharjah. I have always been interested in art. From 1990 - 96
I started to take courses in art and working as an artist.
Being a woman in a Muslim country, did you have any difficulties
working as an artist?
A woman is allowed to study whatever she wants.
Are there many women in the art scene in Sharjah?
Yes, we are many. Some of them are doing paintings, others,
sculptures, and then we are a few, who like me, are doing contemporary
art. To do this, you have to be strong. This kind of art is not
always accepted. The society prefers you to do more traditional
paintings.
Have you had any problems being accepted?
An artist has to do the artwork for himself and not for the
people. I don« t care if they accept or don« t accept. I have to
do my work.
You have been in working in Gammel Dok for three weeks, how
has it been?
It has been a wonderful experience. I have met some artist,
and visiting museums seeing original art from Picasso etc, visiting
galleries. And it has given me more and more inspiration.
Have your stay had any influence of the work you are showing?
No, I already had the idea when I left Sharjah. And I had to
bring some of the materials from my country.
So let us talk about some of your works.
Yes, they are all untitled because, so people can decide for
themselves what they are seeing.
Karima Mohd Al Shomely: untitled
This installation is made of a lot of small figures made of bandage;
they stand, or lie in different positions. In the middle is a big
rope. This rope is made from a palm-tree, which is a very important
tree in Sharjah. I took something from my environment and presented
in new modern art. The figures are shaped in so many different positions,
these are the movements from the human body. No human body is alike,
everybody is different.
 
Karima Mohd Al Shomely: untitled
This one shows only men and woman clothes for the head, hair, and
veils. It shows daily and social life of my society. If you go in
between you are among all these people. The men with the sticks,
the boys playing card. And you can try the different veils and hats
on and you become one of them. All the things hanging from down
gives a lot of moving shadows, and that is the question, where are
all these people? They are moving, and so are we.
The braids symbolize the women's hair. In the old days the hair
had a very strong meaning of womanhood. The hair was the symbol
of a beautiful woman. I want people to think about the loss of this
meaning. Now women cut their hair and don't care so much about it.
The colours present different women.
 
Karima Mohd Al Shomely: untitled
What is your next project?
I am a student in the college of Fine Arts in Sharjah and I
will go back to have exams, so I have to study.
His Highness Sheik Dr. Sultan bin Mohammed Al Quasimi had said
that "art is the way to make a better understanding between
cultures", what do you think about this statement?
I do agree, I have made a lot of experience from my stay in
Denmark. This experience has become a part of me, will be in me.
Thank you Karima, It was a pleasure to meet you. Good luck in
the future.
Thank you.
Interview with Tarek Al-Ghoussein
 
Tarek Al-Ghoussein og Djamila Hansen
Hello Tarek, can you tell me about yourself, where do you come
from etc?
I am half Palestinian, half Kuwaitian. I am educated from the
University of New Mexico in photography. (MA). I am now teaching
in The American University of Sharjah. The University has 3000 students
and my department (architecture and design) has 400 students. It
opened five years ago. The students come mostly from abroad; the
Arab world, Pakistan, a few Australian and a few Chinese. 20% are
locals.
After so many years abroad why did you come back to work in
Sharjah?
I have spent the most of my time outside, so I thought it was
about time to come back. If everybody who is educated stays outside
we are never going to develop. Building the university was also
one of my reasons to come back.
 
Tarek Al-Ghoussein: Untitled & Untitled
Your artwork here is influenced from the myth about Sisyphus,
tell me about it?
I was driving across Sharjah seeing all these stones and rocks.
And thinking a lot about the Palestinian intifada. The rock is such
a heavy symbol of the intifada. Every time when it is going a little
better, the violence increases. And like Sisyphos the Palestinians
are condemned to an endless cyclic struggle.
Sisyphos is condemned by the gods to push a stone up a hill for
eternity just to have it roll back down when inches from the top.
The news media have for many years associated the Palestinian intifada
with stone throwing, an ongoing "uphill battle" for Palestinians.
It is I in all the pictures. Two of them are taken in Sharjah and
the third is taken in Jordan. Standing on Jordan looking over the
Dead Sea And that is Palestine in the background. Actually I was
a little tired with the project until I took this one. After taking
it the Jordanian police invited me for a 20 hours interrogating.
The scarf I am wearing has become a very heavy symbol of terrorism,
and they were asking why did you wear this scarf. So I realized
how potent this symbol is. Most of the Palestinians wear this kind
of scarf. It is the one Arafat wears. You only see this one in black
and white. The police didn't t like me standing there facing Palestine,
so they thought I was mapping, and another thing is that suicide
bombers often make videotapes. Well, finally they let me go. In
retrospect it was not a smart thing to do, but it was worth it.
Did you show this series somewhere else?
Yes, in the Sharjah Biennale. After seeing the Biennale, they
invited me to New Zealand, which is quite interesting.
Aren't New Zealand and Denmark very far away from this conflict?
Wouldn't it be more obvious to show it in Arab countries?
A lot of this is also about making fun at the stereotypes, the
Arab as a terrorist; especially in The States people think that,
even in the Middle East. I get a lot of different reactions, they
don't know if I am pro or against. In Sharjah Biennale they liked
the idea of political oriented work. Up till now I really have considered
myself as a political artist. I went to England to show it but they
would not touch it, it was a little bit too political.
What are your motives for making those pictures, why do you
do this?
To question a general attitude: people believe that all Palestinians
are terrorists, so I am playing with some of the symbols that are
associated with it, but in a very harmless benign way, ex the picture
with the boat, in a safe environment so to speak. There is some
irony in it.
What is your next project?
I have some ideas for doing images with a beard that too has
become a heavy symbol for the fundamental terrorists. I bought a
"bin Laden" beard in England.
Your artwork must be influenced by all your years abroad?
Of course, I know it sound cliché, and it isn't, but
I always felt that my mind is very westernized but my heart is very
Arabic. So bringing these two together is very interesting.
Tell me about the art scene in Sharjah?
It is growing. The last biennale was a big event, very well
organised with artist coming from all over the world.
How many artists are there in Sharjah?
That is very difficult to say. Now people are stating to get
connected to each other. The other four people in this exhibition
I barely know. It seems funny to meet here in Copenhagen, but it
is very isolated. The academy of art opened one year ago, so everything
is quite new.
So before this new era, what was going on?
A lot of sunsets and sand dunes.
 
 
Mohammed Ahemd Ibrahim
 
 
Abdul Rahim Salem
 
Khalil Abdul Wahed
|
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)