This Day
Posted by Jared
Al Yaoum (2003)
Akram Zaatari
viewed 02.07.06
I just walked out of another world.
Few things are as fascinating to me than how people view and express themselves. The past few days parts of the world have been engulfed in violence and outrage over the depiction of Arabs in the Danish press. The issue of representation has cost people their lives.
I understood less than 25% of the video I saw tonight. Akram Zaatari's exploration images of Arabs from Bedouin past to embattled urban existence was personal and indigenous. It was contemplation without explanation. My ignorance of history and culture were never judged but they were also not accommodated. Few attempts were made to make the material plain for a western understanding. Instead beautiful images of every sort and medium were synthesize to hold my attention and reshaped my understanding.
Zaatari career has explored the relationship between dubious histories and personal experience.
"Zaatari has consistently challenged the self-evident quality and immediacy of the documents he found or ran into. As we follow his works, it is clear that the Lebanon of the past thirty years, especially the Lebanon of the Lebanese wars, continues to produce documents that shed light on what it meant and means to experience the physical, social, political and psychic dimensions of wars. The continued manifestation of these documents today bring with them questions abouthow to see and listen to these documents, about how to unpack their meanings."
(Walid Raad)
These questions are increasingly important not only for those who's culture they sprang from, so they may learn about their past, but also for us if we are to have any hope for a peaceful future together. I encourage spending some time at the Arab Image Foundation, which he co-founded (you will have to register to see the collection). You will see things that are beautiful and things that are funny, things that are common and things that are surprising. At the very least you will see how people across the globe see themselves which can only help us represent them with dignity and respect.