‘Life is a tour’
Photo exhibition 'Broken Mirror' by Dr Abdulmonem al Hasani and 'Looking through Clear Glass' by Dalia al Bassami
Published: 05:04 PM,Apr 15,2023 | EDITED : 09:04 PM,Apr 15,2023
Life is like being on a tour and that is why the joint photography exhibition looking through clear glass by Dr Abdulmonem al Hasani and Dalia al Bassami held at Bait Al Zubair is titled 'The Tour'.
Both deal with abstract photography but with independent themes. Dr Abdulmonem chose to call his artwork 'Broken Mirror' and Dalia 'Looking through Clear Glass'.
The work is about conceptual photography. The exhibition will continue until the end of May. On May 13, a major event will be held as part of the mental health day.
“Our life is just a tour. Conceptual photography is a concept and here I took pictures while on a tour with the theme of broken mirror and Dalia took another focus but under the umbrella of The Tour. Therefore, there has to be coherence with the theme. Both of them had extensive talks for almost six years before they narrowed down the theme and exhibition taking almost six years,' Dalia explained.
“It is not easy because we must place the right art pieces in the right place and we had this invitation from Bait Al Zubair. My theme was to do with the shades and shadows of the travellers. We are always on a tour looking for ourselves, for happiness and chasing dreams. Travellers are busy chasing dreams rushing with their luggage amidst the sounds of vehicles. It always makes us wonder when this tour will end,” she added.
Broken Mirror
Dr Abdulmonem said, “In this exhibition, you will find this big broken mirror. You can see yourself in front of this mirror. To me, this is the reality. Any one of us could be having this broken mirror in front of us from a young age until the end whether it is decisions, education or at his work. We face these challenges all the time, but I am arguing here with broken mirrors that we can go through life without the fear of what is broken inside us because we will continue by finding a new dream, another way of life. So at the end of the day this is our tour.” He said it is a journey but it is not a journey. He pointed out that when we face the challenges we cannot stop or freeze.
“We have to continue by rebuilding something within us,” he explained further.
Dalia added, “It is something like a healing process. I do believe that we all go through issues. Some people show it on the surface whereas for others it is deeper. It is the continuity in chasing dreams and having hope, believing in your goals, which makes it a journey. People are often strong not to show the scars, but the internal healing makes one continue. It is like the Japanese way of dealing with broken pots sealing them with gold instead of throwing it away and making them even more beautiful.”
Stuck in life
Dr Abdulmonem agreed that sometimes people do feel stuck but “Life is moving on. Life does not stop even if you do. The sun will rise tomorrow and we will have something to do. Maybe outsiders will say it is easy to handle the problems, but in the end, we have to find the solutions and move on. Stand in front of the broken mirror, accept it and move on. Do something and make yourself proud later as well as for others around you. You cannot freeze in your place and expect others to help you because nobody will help you. And one should move from that place with happiness looking for your dreams all the time.” Lines are something both photographers do as they work with abstracts especially while featuring architecture.
“In abstract photography, we are far away from portraits and landscapes. And lines help in portraying what we want to express,” pointed out Dalia adding, “We are dividing and taking parts whatever we see in life and putting them in lines. Usually, I work in two lines and circles. The exhibition theme in my part of the exhibition is fog and mist because a lot of times we do not know where we are heading. Those figures are seen through clear glass and not just broken glass because life is giving you constant choices,” Dalia reflected.
Our lives are lines, noted Dr Abdulmonem, “The lines are the path our lives are walking on. Maybe it is a straight line or zigzag or any different way of capturing the lines depending on the mood. It also depends on the concept you want to depict. All of these have these lines in front of us. It all depends on how you want to take your path.”
Both deal with abstract photography but with independent themes. Dr Abdulmonem chose to call his artwork 'Broken Mirror' and Dalia 'Looking through Clear Glass'.
The work is about conceptual photography. The exhibition will continue until the end of May. On May 13, a major event will be held as part of the mental health day.
“Our life is just a tour. Conceptual photography is a concept and here I took pictures while on a tour with the theme of broken mirror and Dalia took another focus but under the umbrella of The Tour. Therefore, there has to be coherence with the theme. Both of them had extensive talks for almost six years before they narrowed down the theme and exhibition taking almost six years,' Dalia explained.
“It is not easy because we must place the right art pieces in the right place and we had this invitation from Bait Al Zubair. My theme was to do with the shades and shadows of the travellers. We are always on a tour looking for ourselves, for happiness and chasing dreams. Travellers are busy chasing dreams rushing with their luggage amidst the sounds of vehicles. It always makes us wonder when this tour will end,” she added.
Broken Mirror
Dr Abdulmonem said, “In this exhibition, you will find this big broken mirror. You can see yourself in front of this mirror. To me, this is the reality. Any one of us could be having this broken mirror in front of us from a young age until the end whether it is decisions, education or at his work. We face these challenges all the time, but I am arguing here with broken mirrors that we can go through life without the fear of what is broken inside us because we will continue by finding a new dream, another way of life. So at the end of the day this is our tour.” He said it is a journey but it is not a journey. He pointed out that when we face the challenges we cannot stop or freeze.
“We have to continue by rebuilding something within us,” he explained further.
Dalia added, “It is something like a healing process. I do believe that we all go through issues. Some people show it on the surface whereas for others it is deeper. It is the continuity in chasing dreams and having hope, believing in your goals, which makes it a journey. People are often strong not to show the scars, but the internal healing makes one continue. It is like the Japanese way of dealing with broken pots sealing them with gold instead of throwing it away and making them even more beautiful.”
Stuck in life
Dr Abdulmonem agreed that sometimes people do feel stuck but “Life is moving on. Life does not stop even if you do. The sun will rise tomorrow and we will have something to do. Maybe outsiders will say it is easy to handle the problems, but in the end, we have to find the solutions and move on. Stand in front of the broken mirror, accept it and move on. Do something and make yourself proud later as well as for others around you. You cannot freeze in your place and expect others to help you because nobody will help you. And one should move from that place with happiness looking for your dreams all the time.” Lines are something both photographers do as they work with abstracts especially while featuring architecture.
“In abstract photography, we are far away from portraits and landscapes. And lines help in portraying what we want to express,” pointed out Dalia adding, “We are dividing and taking parts whatever we see in life and putting them in lines. Usually, I work in two lines and circles. The exhibition theme in my part of the exhibition is fog and mist because a lot of times we do not know where we are heading. Those figures are seen through clear glass and not just broken glass because life is giving you constant choices,” Dalia reflected.
Our lives are lines, noted Dr Abdulmonem, “The lines are the path our lives are walking on. Maybe it is a straight line or zigzag or any different way of capturing the lines depending on the mood. It also depends on the concept you want to depict. All of these have these lines in front of us. It all depends on how you want to take your path.”