NAZAR: Exhibit of “Richly Layered” Arab Photography Tours U.S.

By Tim Kennedy


	“Self Portrait 2 (By the Dead Sea),” 2003 by Tarek Al Ghoussein (Palestine/Kuwait) (All photos courtesy Fotofest).

FAMED FRENCH photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson once observed, “Photography is the simultaneous recognition, in a fraction of a second, of the significance of an event.”

Cartier-Bresson’s desire to capture the vitality of the moment is the driving force behind “NAZAR: Photographs from the Arab World,” a diverse exhibition of photographic works currently touring the United States. First shown at the Noorderlicht Photofestival in Holland, NAZAR made its first stop in America at FotoFest at Vine Street Studios in Houston, Texas (see <www.fotofest.org>). It currently is on view through Nov. 3 at The Aperture Foundation in New York City (<www.aperture.org>).

Featuring works contributed by 18 contemporary Arab photographers and four photo archives, NAZAR is a complex, fascinating, and deeply personal look at both historic and modern-day Arab cultures in Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia and Yemen.

“In this exhibit, there is a range of work from contemporary post-modern conceptual work to more traditional documentary work to photo journalism,” noted FotoFest artistic director Wendy Watriss. “It’s very rich in the way it layers different ways of looking at different aspects of life in the Middle East.”

Displayed in a beautifully restored 19th century warehouse in downtown Houston, the historic component of NAZAR, called “Looking Back,” consists of a video-based montage of hundreds of rare photos culled from four archives: Foundation Arabe Pour L’Image in Lebanon, Lehnert and Landrock in Austria, the Marc Garanger in France, and the Van Leo archive of Egypt.


“Permit for the Future,” 1999, by Greta Torossian (Lebanon) (All photos courtesy Fotofest).

“Arab Eyes,” the closely viewable portion of NAZAR, comprises 250 contemporary images mounted on FotoFest’s brightly lit, 20-foot-high walls. The images in “Arab Eyes” depict subjects as diverse as family gatherings in an Algerian village, urban landscapes in Beirut, squatters living atop Cairo office buildings, and a graphic depiction of an Israeli military incursion into a Palestinian refugee camp.

A standout photographer in the exhibtion is Lalla Essaydi, a Moroccan with Saudi roots, who uses Arabic text from her diaries to decorate the clothing of her subjects and the backgrounds where they are photographed. “Lalla Essaydi is taking media to a personally interpreted realm,” said Watriss. “While creating something beautiful, she also skillfully introduces elements that mean something more.”

According to Watriss, Tarek Al-Ghoussein, a Kuwaiti now residing in the United Arab Emirates, also deserves special recognition for a series of self-portraits in strategic locales where he is always shown with his head swathed in a red-checkered keffiyeh while his hand clutches a stone. “Clearly, this artist is questioning the iconic symbols implied by his traditional Arab headdress and the stone,” Watriss observed. “This is a device employed by many artists who themselves have been subject to cultural stereotyping because of political history or cultural history, particularly in relation to a larger and stronger power.”

Another noteworthy photographer featured in “Arab Eyes” is Hicham Benohoud, a Moroccan photography teacher who asked his students to create several self-portraits with the aid of treasured objects and other locally available props. The photos reflect a uniquely individual interpretation of the culture and circumstances of each student’s environment.

“The photos in NAZAR are some of the most powerful and honest images that I have ever seen,” said Aida Ariassi, executive director of the Houston-based Bilateral U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which partially underwrote the cost of bringing the exhibit to the United States. “Unfortunately, the media commonly perpetuates many misconceptions and distortions about the Arabs and the Middle East. Americans don’t usually see images like these. They don’t usually get this message.”


	“Developing and the Underdeveloped, Lebanon,” 1998, by Rawi Hage (Lebanon/Canada) (All photos courtesy Fotofest).

Echoing Ariassi, Edward P. Djerejian, former U.S. ambassador to Syria, said that the role of art in personifying the human condition “brings it home to individuals who are mostly exposed to the political, economic, and, unfortunately, the military dimensions of these issues.”

Now serving as president of the Houston-based Baker Institute at Rice University, Djerejian added: “We at the Baker Institute favor more programs like [NAZAR] because they do so much to promote understanding.”

“There are many aspects of the NAZAR exhibition that are provocative and new; and there are other aspects with which people will feel very comfortable because they are so beautiful,” said Watriss. “The overwhelmingly positive reaction that we are getting from the public is a reflection of the hunger that people have for more information about this part of the world. And the fact that this exhibit is going to more than one place in the United States is a reflection of the strong attention that photography from the Arab world is receiving.”

NAZAR can be viewed Tuesday-Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., at the Aperture Gallery, 543 W. 27th St., 4th floor, in New York City, (212) 505-5555.

Tim Kennedy is a founding partner of the Strategic Policy Group, a strategic communications consulting firm based in Arlington, VA.