When it comes to visiting London, I am filled with a dizzying anxiety of expectation, excitement, and vague nausea at the prospect of a 03:30 rise and the five hour coach journey in which cheese and onion will inevitably make an appearance.
In addition to the usual grocery tour of Edgeware and a saunter through the curiosity stalls of Piccadilly, yesterday I found myself at the Tate Britain to view a unique and intriguing exhibition.
The brainchild of British artists Faisal Abdu’Allah and Maria Zeb Benjamin, filmmaker Trevor Mathison and a selection of Tate curators, Nahnou-Together Now presents a variety of voices that challenge the usual presentation of ‘the Middle East’ in the media.
Using prints, photography, film and time-lines to reveal individual and artistic encounters between the UK, Syria and Jordan, the display is the culmination of a two-year exchange programme involving artists, curators, teachers and young people from the UK, Syria and Jordan.
Developed by Tate Britain with the British Council in collaboration with the Adham Ismail Centre in Syria and Darat al-Funun, the Jordan National Gallery of Fine Arts and The Ministry of Education in Jordan, over the last two years sixty young people aged 13 to 21, from a range of cultural, social, school and economic backgrounds, have participated in the programme, with the majority travelling to the countries involved, and taking part in workshops with artists and young people there.
Since definitive histories of Syrian and Jordanian art have not yet been composed – at least not in English – the ‘mind-time-map’ suggests connections in the development of fine art and education infrastructures in these countries that could prove a basis for further study and pleasure.
On entering the exhibition, I was initially struck by the the size of the display – somehow I had envisaged a long room hosting images from the countries, in addition to the aforementioned features.
Nonetheless, the small size proves deceptive, and the running media provides an informative insight into the Jordanian and Syrian art scene, while the quotes scrawled on the wall offer a heartening confirmation of the value of cultural exchange.
Featuring interviews with the Syrian artist, Reem Al-Khatib, and Samah Hijawi, an artist and tutor at the Visual Arts Departmentat the University of Jordan, the images captured by those involved offer a raw allure that omits the usual holiday fare of Petra and Wadi Rum, favouring instead the rough charm of Amman, and the omnipotent mountains ringing the Syrian capital.
For those who have lived in the cities, the exhibition is a wonderful memory, and from those involved, it is a commendable ode to two of the jewels of the Middle East.
Most significantly, it is an inspirational utilization of art as dialogue.
Nahnou-Together Now is currently at the Tate Britain, and shall be running until September 7, 2008.
[Images via: Nahnou-Together Now]
Filed under: Culture, Europe, Frivolities & Miscellaeny, Imagery, Jordan, Middle East , Amman, art, Damascus, Jordan, London, Syria
