Photos of Light
Said Nuseibeh - A Silent Poet Speaks
Hada Sarhan - The Jordan Times
December 2002

For Palestinian photographer Said Nuseibeh, the photograph is an honest medium that cannot lie as spoken and written language does. "Language is a barrier. Often times more a hindrance than a help," said the artist, adding that photos can be misinterpreted only if manipulated by computer.

"Liquid and Light," currently displayed at Darat Al Funun features 36 photos of San Francisco Conservatory of Flowers, grouped into two sets. The coloured photographs are displayed in the Blue House's main room, featuring close-ups with tremendous colours created by the reflection of light on water and through stained glass. In the second room, a collection of black and white photos provides a more panoramic presentation of the conservatory. These combine light with the partially ruined fa�ade, shot at different angles and at different times of the day.

Nuseibeh told The Jordan Times that making abstract photos is easier than photographing something real. "You do not have to worry about reality much. It is important to me to communicate on an imaginative level and not just on realistic one.

The artist explained the Dome of the Rock also inspired his conservatory photos. Nuseibeh, well-known regionally for his photo work of the Dome of the Rock and Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, said taking photographs "makes me aware of parallels between the inspirational architecture found in California and that in Palestine.

The photographer said he was "gifted a revelatory vision of transcendence." "The subject [I have ] photographed," said Nuseibeh, "were obliterated by a constellation of feeling and knowledge that redefined things before my lens� My visions connect me with the universe in a wholly new fashion, opening up fresh reservoir of meaning and association." For Nuseibeh it is not so much a matter of "taking" photographs, as it is of "making" them. "I don't 'shoot' or 'capture' photographs," he said, pointing out he hates such terminology.

"Shooting is killing and hunting. Taking photographs is robbing and stealing. I make something based upon what I see in the world around it and make something new out of it," explained the artist, adding that his work is a creative act, not one of usurpation, expropriation or capture." "I make photographs in the same spirit that I write poetry," said Nuseibeh, a degree holder in English literature from Bir Zeit University. Photographs, the artist continued, can communicate things better than I can possibly say. The artist added, however, that sometimes the abstract nature of his work can be augmented with text. "By writing a poem about some of my photos I can make people come closer to my photographs." "there are things I think are important that I want to share with the world. I'd like people to be able to understand the world I am working in," concluded Nuseibeh.

The photographer's work can be seen at Darat Al Funun through Feb 20.