M. Portraits

M. Portraits (2012)

photo painting / sculpture / metal works / video / installation

A series of 46 black and white photo outlines of my grandfather colorfully painted by primary school children who I met during my travels to Lebanon, Syria and Palestine. I had asked young children to transform my grand fathers portrait in any way they desire to de-mystify the power of iconography. Since the original was taken in Jerusalem (بيت المقدس) in 1920, here a fictional reality is deliberately constructed by the imposition of ‘artificial,’ elements that purport to somehow belong to imagined historical compositions but are in fact entirely fictive constructs.

“M. Portraits” installation further explores a fictive universe full of personal narratives that underline the Arab Spring. Examining more than 20 diverse works of sculptures, film, photo’s and eatable goods, The installation plays with the lines between parody and our notions of realness that is deliberately blurred to reveal hidden paradoxes while exposing how to be “political” and having a little fun.

2012 : Galerie Lumen Travo Amsterdam