New photo exhibition shows modern Arab society

Описание: (4 Jan 2018) LEAD IN:
A new photographic exhibition in Brussels takes a multi-faceted look at different aspects of Arab culture.

STORY-LINE:
The enigmatic gaze of Lebanese girls pierces through a photographer's lens, commanding attention from the visitors at the "Instantanes d'Orient" (Snapshots of the East) art exhibition in Brussels.
The girls were photographed at two different stages of their lives in Beirut and at the Burj El Barajineh refugee camp.
The portraits are part of "Becoming", a project by Lebanese-American artist Rania Matar that questions the issue of femininity and of female identity in the Middle East.
Matar is one of six photographers displaying their works at "Instantanes d'Orient" at Villa Empain, an art deco jewel owned by the Boghossian Foundation.
The artworks on display are a selection of a larger photographic exhibition showcased in 2017 in Paris at the Institut du Monde Arab (Institute of the Arab World).
Like a prism, the show offers a look at the Arab world, its dilemmas and its evolution through the eyes of six different artists.
The result is a multi-faceted picture that, albeit incomplete, illustrates the enormous complexity and variations co-existing within what the Western world simply labels Arab society.
"Instantanes d'Orient" comes at a time of great need for Europeans to deepen their knowledge of their Arab neighbours, says Caroline Schuermans, the communications manager at Boghossian Foundation in Brussels.
"We believe there is more than ever a need to know more about the Arab world and the Arab cultures. And certainly as well what we try to do here with that exhibition is what happens in the contemporary Arab scene."
"And we are showing six photographers, mainly all Arab photographers; and it gives us an idea – a small idea – of the different phases of the cultural scene which is very active and which proposes not only war pictures or politics statements", Schuermans says.
The photographers choose languid landscapes, intimate portraits and the eerie stillness of abandoned buildings to explore contemporary themes like displacement, identity and the ever-open question of veiling or unveiling a female body.
In "Border-lines" by Syrian-born Jaber Al Azmeh, the pain of migration caused by war and conflict takes centre stage against a background of powdery, silent desert views.
Tunisian photographer Douraid Souissi, instead, places his subjects against a much more intimate backdrop.
His "Mohamed, Salem, Omrane, Hbob, Hsouna" features three portraits of younger and older Tunisian men, their bodies half-lit, backs to the camera, in an attempt to question the meaning of identity and spirituality.
Saudi Arabian photographer Moath Alofi goes back to the desert to portray and question the destiny of abandoned mosques that he found on his way to Medina with "The Last Tashahhud".
Mouna Karray, from Tunisia, takes to the bedroom the question of the female body and how much of it can be unveiled.
In her "Noir" series, Karray shows a woman's body completely covered by a white blanket; only a hand is sticking out of the white bundle, mysteriously holding what looks like a switch.
German photographer Stephan Zaubitzer – the only non-Arab at the exhibit – offers his take on abandoned buildings.
His "Cinemas" series of photographs are shot inside neglected cinemas in Lebanon and Libya and offer a small glimpse of what's left of their old glory days.
Louma Salame, the Boghossian Foundation's general manager, says "Instantanes d'Orient" offers a contribution to Europe's reflections of dialogue and understanding with the Arab world.

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