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BEYOND
by Nabil Boutros
4 to 30 April 2016
In the exhibition ‘Beyond’ Boutros questions the place that words have in our relationship with our world. With calligraphy overlaying various images, a dilemma is created whether to focus on the imagery or the words, and is it possible to view them with equal understanding?
Do words shed light on the world around us or do they confine it? What about the words that stand for values?
Do they act as guides for us through life or are they tools of power? On which side do we stand? In front of, or beyond words?
And pictures – do they reveal what they are showing us or do they hide what we cannot see?
These thoughts inspired me to make these pictures from my Egyptian archive. In front of them, I placed a grid, made up of Arabic words and written in the orthogonal Kufic script.
Each of the different grids is composed of a repetition of two words, forming an antagonist couple:
al-Donia / al-Âkhera (the World / the Other World)
al-Ferdaws / al-Jahîm (the Highest Paradise / the Pit)
al-Halâl / al-Harâm (the Allowed / the Forbidden)
al-Jannah / al-Nâr (the Heaven / the Hellfire)
al-Naïm / al-Azâb (the Bliss / the Suffering)
Rawda / Juhannam (Garden [of Eden] / Gehenna)
al-Samâwât / al-Ardh (the Skies / the Earth)
These words are loaded with promises and threats. In the Middle East where religious interpretations are dominant, they act as keys to the understanding of everyday life.
Words – in the shape of grids, mazes, or wooden lattices – hamper the vision of images making them resist to a quick reading.
The event is part of the 5th Image Festival Amman presented by Darat Al Tasweer.
Nabil Boutros
Born in Cairo, Nabil Boutros lives in Paris. Originally a painter, then a designer, he has used photography as a medium since 1986. His previous work includes a large portrait series on Egyptians, an exploration of the country’s popular music and a look at Alexandria today. He spent seven years documenting the lives of the Copts, and he has previously exhibited work on Bedouin culture, photographed in Jordan. His work has been exhibited in Europe, America and Africa, and he regularly leads workshops on photography.
