|
 June,
2004
Visceral Landscapes
Sima Zureikat JO magazine
AMMAN: "Every individual is unique and
special and has a story to tell. The hand speaks wordless
texts, reveals anger, anguish, joy, and hope. It is a
point of contact between one and the world. One uses it
to exercise the creative will."
The conception of the idea came like watery glances on
a drunken night in the summer of 2002. The plan was simple:
Alma Khasawnih had already begun her fascination in hand
painting at this point and wanted to document the process
and results. She teamed up with photographer, Yazan Dougan
and Ala' Diab on sound design to effectively record the
project. They gathered a few friends and out of the mutual
interest and curiosity of all those involved, a new movement
was born. |
 |
What started as a simple and fun idea soon materialized into
a collection of interesting photographs and work. It was after
the fact while looking at the images that the group began
to realize that there was more to the project than meets the
eye. Each hand reflected more than a painting but rather a
unique landscape of personality and experience.
"There are certain words, shapes, and colors that triggers
something in your mind." Different elements in the designs
of the hand paintings carried different associations. For
instance, Yazan, the only male in the group to have his hand
painted, had a clearly masculine hand painting, apparent through
the broad shapes and colors used. Others in the group who
may have reflected a messy or disheveled personality also
found their hand paintings to show a sort of random disorder
or chaos. The kind of organization of the hand designs lent
itself to an analysis of personality. "We look at a hand closely
and discover hills, valleys, and paths. We take a snap shot
of that. We internalize it, project our own images and texts
over it. We are part of it and outside it"
After this breakthrough the group discussed expanding the
project. Another dimension started to take form as the work
began to verge on social research. "It became a sort of scientific
experiment." What was need now was funding to organize the
project to run through an extended period of time. The group
approach the Khalid Shoman Foundation at Darat al Fanun with
their proposal for a project entitled "Terrains." The work
included 6 months of gathering material through sequenced
hand painting sessions and would end in an installation to
exhibit the resulting works. After sitting with director Suha
Shoman, the group was happy to know that their vision was
shared and well received. It was, after all, a big move for
the Dara to take a chance on a group of young Jordanians who,
prior to "Terrains," had limited exposure in the Jordanian
art scene. But without hesitation, a space was set, a check
was issued there and then, and the project took off.
Part One: The Sessions
.
"Terrains is about narrative building, dissection and storytelling.
It is also about layers: layers of paint, image, voice, thought
and meaning. It is about the passing of time and time standing
still." Nearly a year after the first gathering, the first
official session was set in July 2003. The initial assembly
of participants were twenty but with time shortened to thirteen.
Those thirteen were then broken into 3 groups and over three
weekends a month sessions would be held in Alma's residence
over a six month period. The atmosphere was cozy and intimate.
Alma's house itself seemed a source of inspiration, covered
with local art adorning an otherwise pristinely white yet
highly modern space. In the center of the house Ala', Alma
and Yazan set up their audio and lighting equipment. An empty
space, surrounded with shallow steps and capped with a fire
place, provided a defined area for the session to take place.
Alma casually occupied this central spot, seated next to her
trunk of paints and colors, face to face with the participant
who's hand would be painted. The studio environment contrasted
with the naturalness of lived-in home gave a sense of leisure
to the work.
Over a cup of damn good coffee
and the occasional vegetarian tid-bit snack, the members of
the group would gather together and commence the happening.
Each group would partake in the hand painting sessions together,
and over time a comfort and familiarity was fostered between
the participants. This relaxing ambiance was essential for
sharing experiences and promoting openness within a group
of Jordanians typically raised in families or a society which
encourages a gross lack of self revealing and expression.
Various topics of discussion, from body hair to past lives,
would arise during the hand painting sessions. The narrative
process flowed easily between the group as moods would lighten
and leaden with the stream of consciousness-like conversations.
Debates would arise and differences of opinions would be revealed
through the practice. By the end, everyone involved grew to
know more about themselves and the others.
Quick to react to the narratives
was Alma, intuitively painting while mediating the stories.
Dots and loops covered wide areas of skin and paint. Stories,
coded in Alma's own visual language, were actively imprinted
on the palms of every hand. And all the while, Yazan would
photograph each hand as the paintings progressed as Ala',
always with a bit of amusement, managed the audio and monitored
the recorded conversations throughout.
Part Two: From Vision to Completion.
"We worked really hard and continuously,
and we really knew that we wanted this to see it through.
This was a major part in making it happen." At the close of
the sessions Ala', Alma, and Yazan organized themselves once
again to sort out their collected material. Spending months
mulling over the results from their "experiments," the project
once again formed another dimension. The process of self reflection
was revisited. As Yazan pointed out, "When you listen to conversations
recorded, its like seeing yourself in pictures. You pick up
new things about yourself and see things more objectively."
Now, rather than the social interactive experience of the
recording sessions, previous narratives are broken down to
sounds, phrases, and lines. New stories were taking place.
A design was set for the installation
space. "What's different in this exhibition is that you don't
usually see people visualizing a show before working on it.
We were very pleased to see the end result was very close
to what we initially saw." The work would cover five separate
spaces through the lower artist studios at the Dara. Each
room had a separate design and theme."We wanted to create
layers." The group is quick to give credit to the Dara for
their support and trust. "Through the process they remained
supportive, even when we were stressing out." There was a
lot riding on the shoulders of the group to produce a show
on a par with their efforts. Other artists in the community
were also eagerly hoping to see "Terrains" succeed, as their
success may open the doors for other experimental projects
and proposals in the future.
The Show
"We wanted people to come out and interact with the work -
to be actively involved in the stories themselves." After
the final weeks of the group's superhuman efforts to complete
and effectively translate their initial vision to one complete
space, the project reached its climax on May 20th 2004 during
the official "Terrains" opening at the Darat Al Fanun. The
installation, like the professional fields of the artists,
was diverse. "We were very careful not to limit the work into
any one specific medium." There is no central point in the
installation, each part manages to stand on its own. The audio
rips like a zither through the space. As you walk through
the installation your attention grabs a hold of a few fleeting
words like an overheard conversation. The video piece animates
the mechanisms of the hand, deconstructing the whole of a
story to the sum of its parts. The left over pieces of passed
narratives are then combined to suit each viewer as they walk
through the show.
The work utilizes the group's fine art, graphic design and
architecture backgrounds into its industrial structure and
commercial materials. Using unorthodox resources such as enhanced
audio, digital printing and large hanging banners, the work
takes the presentation model of the advertising industry and
rather than market a product, they promote the voice of under
represented young and modern Jordanian youth. The repetition
of hand images, showing the development of finalized hand
paintings, reflect a kind of assembly line of identity and
experience. The word itself and theme of the work, "Terrains,"
refers to the topical changes in the physical environment.
Every hand carries with itself its own path and texture. A
trained palm reader is assumed to be able to tell one's life
tale from the terrains of a hand. In the juxtaposition of
each hand and story throughout the installation, the personal
path is lost to a greater organization of space and time.
The painted patterns within the hand images seem to echo the
changing urban landscape of a city design. Here, the once
individual is now an inescapable part of a whole. The question
remains however, is the landscape reflecting the individual,
or is the individual shaping the landscape?
What makes the project successful is the dedication and resilience
of the three artists throughout the entire course of the undertaking.
What makes the show successful is that the work defies the
expectations of a typical art piece. It takes an age-old tradition
like hand painting, modernizing, decontexualizing, and fitting
it to represent our generation. By combining audio, video,
and photography, into the overall design of the installation,
the narratives which were once so personal, have been transformed
and broadened into a universal language of self expression
|
