The making of memories: Syrian artist Sara Naim uses material from her homeland to create striking abstract imagery

Sara Naim at the The Third Line gallery in Dubai. (Supplied photo)
Updated 16 February 2019
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The making of memories: Syrian artist Sara Naim uses material from her homeland to create striking abstract imagery

  • “Building Blocks”, Sara Naim's second solo show, runs until February 27
  • She exists in a world far beyond the realm of classical photography and is often considered a visual artist rather than a photographer

DUBAI: Nostalgia takes many forms. For the Syrian visual artist Sara Naim, those forms are jasmine, soil and Aleppo soap.

All three are central to her second solo exhibition at The Third Line in Dubai, “Building Blocks” — which runs until February 27 — but not in the way you’d expect. 

Using a scanning electron microscope, Naim has captured the cellular structure of all three substances, magnified them, and mounted the resultant imagery on wood and plexiglass. She has also deliberately included glitches — formal distortions and light leaks — producing imagery so abstracted it is no longer recognizable. These abstract examinations create the wall works of the show and hint at the imperfection of memory, while in the midst of it all are a series of structures made from 4,000 bars of Aleppo soap.

“I think the idea of warping something that’s familiar into something foreign allows you to shift the viewer’s perspective and to reshape how they think of nostalgia,” says Naim, who was born in London, raised in Dubai, and currently lives in Paris. “Because nostalgia operates in a way that’s no longer linked to the original information. The memory of something changes the more time has elapsed and the more you think about it. You can also become consumed in thought and therefore lost in it. 

“You assume that the closer you come to something the more familiar it becomes, but actually you become more distant because it’s so abstracted. For example, some of these are looked at 50,000 times magnified, and at that scale you’re further from its truth.”

In many ways “Building Blocks” is as much about identity as it is about nostalgia. All three of the elements used by Naim may be familiar to her — the jasmine and soil are from her grandmother’s garden in Damascus — but the memories they trigger (through smell primarily) are also perceived as foreign. This is due to her international upbringing as much as it is to the conflict in Syria, which has kept her away from the country for the past eight years. 

“I’ve always said I’m Syrian,” she says. “I don’t feel like I’m British, I don’t feel like I’m from Dubai. My blood is Syrian. I completely connect with the land and the people even though there’s an interesting acceptance issue in Syria. Because they don’t consider me to be Syrian really when I’m there and even if I meet a Syrian here or elsewhere they feel disconnected from me. And (vice-versa).

“I met a British woman recently who has a house in Damascus and she’s been going there for the past 20 years. She was telling me about the street that she lives on and where she goes and I didn’t even know those places. And it was such a shame for me to feel like I’m more removed from my country than an expat is. But it’s all the nature of circumstance.”

The exhibition is, in essence, a continuation of Naim’s wider body of work, which utilizes the transmission electronic microscope and the scanning electron microscope to create ‘abstract quasi-photographic imagery’. It’s a practice she says “dissects how proportion shapes our perception and notion of boundary.” 

She exists in a world far beyond the realm of classical photography and is often considered a visual artist rather than a photographer. It’s a point of classification that she herself has debated.

“I used to correct people when they introduced me as a photographer, hoping that ‘visual artist’ would give me more freedom,” she admits. “But actually embracing it as photographic allows me to enter into the very dialogue I want to be a part of. Why are cameras made with a rectangular frame? Why are prints framed the way they are? Why is photography considered two-dimensional when it fundamentally uses space and time? I have rid myself of those restrictions, but my work is still photographic.”

Naim is in the final stages of preparing for the exhibition when we meet. The soap has yet to arrive, the towers have yet to be built, but everything else appears to be in place. Although she looks tired, occasionally passing her hand through her hair, she is chatty and affable. 

“The names that I’ve given these are not the final names,” she says as we meander through the space. “So, this is ‘Form Six,’ but in my mind — before I named them — it was just ‘Color.’ This was ‘Flower,’ this was ‘Diptych,’ this is ‘Bed Sheet,’ this was ‘Horizontal,’ this was ‘Squiggly,’” she says with a laugh. “Unfortunately I couldn’t keep it like that. ‘Bed Sheet’ wasn’t really flying with the gallery either.”

Far from being universal in shape, each form imitates a topography that Naim has encountered during her scanning process. A process that, in one way or another, Naim has been deeply involved with for the past 10 years.

Initially, it wasn’t so much the scanning electron microscope, or even photography, that Naim was interested in, but the idea of ‘false lines.’ 

“The skin seems as though it separates the body from its internal anatomy and external world, but — in fact — it’s almost like a collision of two energy forces, and on a cellular scale there is no such division,” she explains. “And how you represent that lack of border or boundary is by going down to the cell and having them look like something foreign — like a foreign landscape, or something macro.” 

It is this notion of the non-boundary, the interconnectedness of matter, that drives Naim’s work.

“I like to play with the viewer’s perspective in terms of scale, subject matter and form, but everything must be precise and sterile in order to actually convince someone to shift the way they see or think. A good dancer makes the choreography feel effortless; I try to use that concept in my work,” she says. “If the viewer begins by asking me about the process of how they were built, then that’s my fault. I’ve lost them to rationality rather than abstraction.” 

 


Princess Iman of Jordan is expecting her first child 

Updated 24 January 2025
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Princess Iman of Jordan is expecting her first child 

DUBAI: Jordan’s Princess Iman bint Abdullah II and her husband, Jameel Alexander Thermiotis, are expecting their first child.

Queen Rania, the princess’s mother, shared the news on Instagram with a photo of the couple at sunset by the beach, highlighting the mother-to-be’s baby bump. “Two is a couple, three is a blessing,” the Queen captioned the image.

This will be the second grandchild for Queen Rania and King Abdullah II. Their first grandchild, born in August, is the daughter of Crown Prince Hussein bin Abdullah and Princess Rajwa Al-Hussein. She was named Iman in honor of her aunt.


Oscar nomination for Palestinian documentary ‘No Other Land’

Updated 24 January 2025
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Oscar nomination for Palestinian documentary ‘No Other Land’

DUBAI: The Palestinian documentary “No Other Land” has been nominated for the Best Documentary at this year’s Oscars.

The film was directed by a collective of four Israeli and Palestinian filmmakers — activists Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor — and marks their directorial debut.

“No Other Land” follows the story of Adra, a young Palestinian activist from Masafer Yatta in the West Bank, as he fights against the mass expulsion of his community by Israeli forces. Since childhood, Adra has documented the demolition of homes and displacement of residents in his region under military occupation.

The film also explores his unlikely partnership with Abraham, an Israeli journalist who supports his efforts. However, their alliance is tested by the stark inequality between them — Adra lives under constant occupation, while Abraham enjoys freedom and security.

The film has dominated the pre-Oscar awards circuit, winning major accolades such as the top honor at the Cinema Eye Honors, Best Documentary and Best Director at the IDA Awards, Best European Documentary at the European Film Awards, and Best Documentary at the Berlin Film Festival, where it premiered last February.

This year’s Academy Awards ceremony will take place on March 3.


Ramy Youssef’s animated series to have world premiere in Texas

Updated 24 January 2025
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Ramy Youssef’s animated series to have world premiere in Texas

  • ‘#1 Happy Family USA’ explores experiences of Muslim-American family in early 2000s

DUBAI: Egyptian American actor Ramy Youssef’s animated series “#1 Happy Family USA” will make its world premiere at the South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin, Texas, which runs from March 7 to 15.

The show explores the experiences of a Muslim-American family in the early 2000s.

Youssef voices Rumi Hussein, a 12-year-old boy with big dreams and a desire to fit in. Rumi, named after the 13th century poet, also has a hard time living up to the name.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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Youssef also voices Rumi’s father, a former cardiothoracic surgeon who now runs a halal cart.

The series stars actress Alia Shawkat, who is of Iraqi, American, Irish, Italian and Norwegian descent, Egyptian-Canadian comedian Salma Hindy, US singer-actress Mandy Moore, “Ramy” actress Randa Jarrar, and US comedians Chris Redd, Akaash Singh and Whitmer Thomas.

Youssef is the co-creator of the series with US writer and TV producer Pam Brady. The pair are the executive producers of the show with Iraqi-British journalist Mona Chalabi. A24 and Amazon Studios co-produced.


Who’s who at the Diriyah Islamic Arts Biennale 

Updated 24 January 2025
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Who’s who at the Diriyah Islamic Arts Biennale 

  • A rundown of the artists whose work will be displayed at this year’s event, which runs until May 25 

JEDDAH: The second edition of the Diriyah Islamic Arts Biennale begins today, showcasing more than 500 “historical objects and contemporary artworks” across five exhibition halls and outdoor spaces.  

This year’s theme is “And All That Is In Between,” a phrase the organizers say “encapsulates the vast and awe-inspiring scope of God’s creation as experienced by humankind.”  

Over the next four months, the event will, according to the website, present “a profound exploration of how faith is lived, expressed, and celebrated … inviting visitors to reflect on the divine’s wonders and humankind’s connection to it.” 

 Abdelkader Benchamma's 'Au Bord des Mondes' on display at the Pompidou Center in Paris this year. (Supplied)

The biennale will include new commissions from more than 30 artists, both local and international. The most prominent Saudi artist on the roster is Ahmed Mater, who was the subject of a mid-career retrospective — “Chronicles” — at Christie’s in London last year. Participation in a biennale such as this fits with Mater’s philosophy. In 2020, he told Arab News: “I see exploration, sharing and learning between cultures as vital. Culture is about sharing and progress. It is not static; it is dynamic.”  

Mater’s fellow Saudi artist, the printmaker and educator Fatma Abdulhadi will also be presenting works at the biennale. Her prints, she told the Berlin Art Institute in 2021, consist of “layer upon layer of deeper meanings which are expressed through the use of color. Each layer of color is a mirror that allows you to see the others clearly and accept them for what they are.” 

Saudi contemporary interpretive dancer Bilal Allaf told Arab News in 2021 why he prefers his improvisational approach to classical dance. “I feel I can express my emotions better,” he said. “I think it’s a pure art form of storytelling — a form of non-verbal communication. As a performer it’s a very profound expression.” 

Bilal Allaf. (Supplied)

Bahraini-American artist Nasser Alzayani was the winner of Louvre Abu Dhabi’s inaugural Richard Mille Art Prize in 2021. His practice, the Louvre said at the time, “is a research-driven documentation of time and place through text and image.” Alzayani told Canvas the following year: “I see the work that I’m making as a way of adding to the resources available.” 

Makkah native Ahmad Angawi is, according to art collective Edge of Arabia, “inspired by the colorful diversity of the culture of Hejaz.” He is the son of an architect, and has “adopted the concept of … the belief in the fundamental principle of balance, as a state of mind, as well as the belief in its application in the field of design.” 

Abdelkader Benchamma, born in France to Algerian parents, creates “delicately executed and dynamic drawings of states of matter,” Edge of Arabia’s website states. “His drawings take their inspiration from visual scenarios that stem from reflections on space and its physical reality.” 

Abha native Saeed Gebaan is an industrial engineer by trade, and a co-founder of PHI Studio. “Through installations, programming and movement systems, Gebaan invites viewers to consider the intersection of science and society,” according to Riyadh Art. 

Nasser Alzayan, Seeing Things. (Supplied)

Louis Guillaume uses found materials to create his sculptures and “sees his creations as living works destined to evolve over time,” the website of Paris’ Cité International Des Artes states. 

The work of Lebanese multidisciplinary artists Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige has covered film, photography, sculpture, installations, performance lectures and texts. They have written that they “question storytelling, the fabrication of images and representations, the construction of imaginaries, and the writing of history.” 

Jeddah-based visual artist Bashaer Hawsawi works with mixed media and found objects. Her practice, according to theartists.net, is centered around “notions of cultural identity, cleansing, belonging and nostalgia.” 

Libyan artist Nour Jaouda, the Venice Biennale website states, “relishes in the slow, physical, and felt processes of fabricating hand-dyed textiles. (Their) inherent connectivity begets their association with the eternal and the divine; to the artist, textiles have no beginning or end.” 

Lebanese-French interdisciplinary artist Tamara Kalo was raised in Riyadh. “She works with photography, video and sculpture to investigate narratives that shape home, history and identity,” Riyadh Art states. 

Nour Jaouda's 'The Light In Between'. (Supplied)

Raya Kassisieh is a London-based artist of Palestinian heritage who says she “explores the politics of the body in a multidisciplinary practice that presents a deeply personal interrogation of form.” Her work “proposes that the body is the ultimate tool for reimagination and creation.” 

The Japanese artist Takashi Kuribayashi creates large-scale installations. The central theme of his work, he has said, is the “invisible realm” and its boundary. “The truth resides in places that are invisible. Once you are aware that there is a different world out of sight, you will be living in a different way.” 

Saudi photographer and filmmaker Hayat Osamah “seeks to challenge conventional norms and celebrate diversity,” Riyadh Art states, while Jeddah-born multidisciplinary artist Anhar Salem also works primarily in film, often using phone-shot videos “to question self-representation and image production in communities that have been marginalized as a result of migration and economic policies,” according to Cité International Des Artes. 

This year’s roster also includes Argentinian artist Gabriel Chaile; Amman-based Kuwaiti artist and curator Ala Younis; Asim Waqif, an Indian artist based in New Delhi; Taiwanese multidisciplinary artist Charwei Tsai; Lahore-based duo Ehsan ul Haq and Iqra Tanveer; Eurasian art collective Slavs and Tatars; Italian visual artist Arcangelo Sassolino; British architect and multidisciplinary artist Asif Khan; French-Iraqi artist Mehdi Moutashar; German-Iranian photographer and sculptor Timo Nasseri; Multimedia poet-musician duo Hylozic/Desires (Himali Singh Soin and David Soin Tappeser); Colombian multidisciplinary artist Nohemi Pérez; Pakistani artist Imran Qureshi, whose work is inspired by the miniature paintings of Mughal courts; Brazilian artist Lucia Koch; and the British interdisciplinary artist Osman Yousefzada. 


REVIEW: Netflix’s French thriller ‘Ad Vitam’ fails to pick a lane

Updated 24 January 2025
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REVIEW: Netflix’s French thriller ‘Ad Vitam’ fails to pick a lane

JEDDAH: It’s hard to know quite what to make of “Ad Vitam.” Maybe because its creators don’t seem to have decided quite what they were making.

Co-writer Guillaume Canet stars as Franck Lazarev, whose wife Leo is just days away from giving birth to their first child. Franck is working a civilian job checking historical buildings for structural cracks (which makes for some stunning opening shots of Paris). A few days after finding their apartment has been ransacked, they are attacked by masked intruders, who kidnap Leo and tell Franck that unless he hands over “the key,” she will die and he will be framed for her murder. It all makes for a gripping 30 minutes.

Then the story goes back a full decade. Leo and Franck are trainees for the GIGN (essentially the French police’s anti-terrorist unit). They become ace agents, bond with certain colleagues, fall in love… you get the picture. It’s a montage — but one that takes around 20 minutes when it could have taken two. It throws off the momentum considerably.

Next, we jump ahead nine years to find Franck leading a team of agents who are called to a hotel where gunshots have been heard. Things escalate rapidly. Two perpetrators are killed, but so is Franck’s best friend, and his protégé is seriously wounded. Franck is fired.

But he can’t let it go. He gets his friend’s badge tested for DNA (explaining a notable focus on badges in the earlier flashback sequence) and discovers that one of the two perps was actually a government agent. A conspiracy begins to unravel. The key demanded by the kidnappers opens the locker where Franck has stashed the evidence.

Back to the present: Franck rushes to save Leo, and we’re back to frantic action, this time with mediocre parkour scenes and a paragliding sequence that is hilarious (unintentionally). Canet clearly fancies himself an all-action hero in the Tom Cruise mold. He doesn’t pull it off. Like the film itself, Canet is best when playing it small and gritty.

Credit to the makers for taking some big swings, but they don’t come off. And while “Ad Vitam” is entertaining enough, it’s also instantly forgettable.