WHY
Nadine Hammam
10 December 2013 - 15 January 2014 Cairo -Egypt
ArtTalks | Education & Exhibition Space 8 El Kamel Mohamed Street, Zamalek, Cairo, Egypt. +20227363948 / +201005550585 info@arttalks.org www.arttalks.com
Nadine Hammam was born in 1973 in Cairo, Egypt and lives and works in Cairo. She received a BA in English and Comparative Literature from the American University in Cairo and an MA in Fine Art from Central St. Martins, London. A multi-disciplinary and conceptual artist, she works with painting, writing, sound installations, video. She deconstructs gender dynamics and social taboos by investigating the relationship between the public versus the private, the external versus the internal, and the intimate which are key to Middle Eastern society. A transnational artist, her painting explores text and image and constructs flawless multi-layered canvases that eliminate all visible brush strokes pointing to the gestural disappearance of the artist. Her work is now positioned on the international artistic scene. She has exhibited her work in Cairo (2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013), London (2006), Dubai (2007, 2011), Washington DC (2005) and Paris (2005). For her fourth solo show at ArtTalks | Gallery | Egypt from December 10, 2013 through to January 15, 2014, she is exploring a new media, mirrors, to pursue her experimentations with text and image.
The New Voices of Avant-Garde Art in Egypt Today Nadine Hammam’s artistic journey speaks for the persistence of art to manifest itself in times of revolutions and for the new ways in which the current Egyptian artistic avant-garde is coming to the forefront. In the same vein as previous western and non-western vanguard movements, her art is resolutely defiant and inspiring. It engages the viewer in new horizons beyond boundaries and national geographical borders. It defies stereotypes, confronts History, and challenges constructions of the feminine in today’s world. This is a particularly pressing matter today as many women’s organizations address the regression of the status of women. And this is precisely why Nadine Hammam’s work is timely, and demands our attention. Moreover, in the heart of the highly mediatized Egyptian revolutions, Nadine Hammam’s artistic inquiry engages us in new ways of thinking about the intellectual and artistic consequences of revolutions and the experiences of historical and ideological unrest. Her art today undoubtedly demonstrates that artists are actively engaged with their times. As a young emerging Egyptian artist today, Nadine Hammam has been trained in the renowned and extremely competitive Central St. Martin’s MFA program in the UK. She has returned to Egypt where she works and plans to move to New York. Like many of her contemporaries, such as Mona Hatoum and Ghada Amer, her work confronts both western and nonwestern audiences and positions her as a cross cultural and transnational artist on the global art scene today.
At first glance, Nadine Hammam’s creations, Tank Girl and Heartless are singularized by the color red and bear a highly charged symbolic power heightened by the experimentation with textures and mixed media: silver foil, crystals, papers. Red, as her color of choice for her female figures remains ambivalent because red is never a neutral color. Yet, if the color red catches our eyes at first glance, it is just the starting point of Nadine Hammam’s artistic pursuit. Her female figures are daunting and fiercefully occupy the entirety of her pictorial space. The direct interplay between text and image in Heartless invites us to engage in dialogue in a novel in-between space in which the female body becomes the memorial for memory and trauma. The female figures and the words carried by their bodies are imposing and powerful. They take on the role of banners, that resonate within us. Nadine Hammam, just like many of her contemporary women artists, takes her place in an artistic world where nudity has traditionally been the domain and the prerogative of men. The universal words of unrequited or absent love engender a riveting message of love and desire. In spite of the rich layering and the multiple media used to produce texture, her female figures are far from being decorative models. They defy definitions. They stage the deconstruction of symbolic values, breaking taboos and giving center stage to love, desire or the lack thereof. Her bodies cry out the needs of women on a global scale, confront us and call for our direct participation.
With her new work entitled WHY, Nadine Hammam pursues her art with the new media and the dynamic process of mirroring. It is aesthetically more ornate, subtle and poetic. The words assembled from broken mirror pieces, are both reflecting and fragmenting the self. The viewer is directly engaged in the work as his or her own image reflects back from the written words. Just like any other previous avant-garde artistic strategy the artistic experience is participatory. Reflecting the gaze of the viewer directly into the work of art gives a new unprecedented turn to vanguard and performance art. Words are no longer simply painted or performed. With Nadine Hammam, the mirroring effects of words and the questioning of language through reflected subjectivities puts the viewer in an explicit unequivocal and unstable position. The viewer can no longer identify with the traditionally assigned meaning of language. From now on, the viewer has to take action and responsibility in the words in which he/she is reflected. This is precisely where the political strategy of Nadine Hammam’s art is at work. Marcel Duchamp and Man Ray’s aesthetics of chance are redefined and find their echoes in the manner in which the mirrors are broken and pieced back together to compose the verbal signs. It is chance that guides the artistic process as the artist selects some of the broken pieces that are glued on the canvas to deliver her message. Yet, this is mere illusion since the words emerging from the broken and missing pieces can never be fully recomposed.
On the contrary, the seven pieces that compose the series WHY reveal a conceptual strategy at work that hands us only the mere illusion that meaning and past histories can be fully reconfigured as we walk close to and away from the compositions. The canvases, with their smooth finish, are brushed to the point of erasing any trace or marks. With their smooth surface they point to the gestural disappearance of the artist who leaves us alone in front of the broken mirrors and recomposed pieces. It is in this decentering experience of loss between reality and fiction that humor prevails and that one may experience the beauty of designs reminiscent of arabesque lace patterns. This message of love invokes History on a global scale, opens new cartographies to re-think the ideologies of our fastglobalizing world. It speaks for the central role that art and the internationalization of art can play today.
Martine Natat Antle Mc Caughey Chair of French Studies The University of Sydney Australia
I don’t find anything I make shocking. I am very comfortable with the human figure and I have used it in my work to deconstruct social taboos and complex social structures. Changing this mindset will definitely be a challenge, and sadly, I’m not sure it will change in my lifetime.
Love Acrylic on Canvas and Mixed Media Dimensions: 1.50m x 1.80m Signed and dated on the reverse 'n 2013'
I chose words that reflect and situate a relationship – I wanted to deconstruct those emotions.
Kiss Acrylic on Canvas and Mixed Media Dimensions: 80cm x 90cm Signed and dated on the reverse 'n 2013'
I have been fascinated with mirrors for some time. I find them illusive and seductive as well as disturbing.
I wanted to embrace and make fun of the ultimate clichĂŠ of love, but to show that at the same time we all want it.
Lust
Desire
Acrylic on Canvas and Mixed Media Dimensions: 1.75m x 50cm Signed and dated on the reverse 'n 2013'
Acrylic on Canvas and Mixed Media Dimensions: 1.75m x 50cm Signed and dated on the reverse 'n 2013'
Perhaps there’s some latent thought of my grandmother somewhere. She used to hold up this crystal glass and say, ‘the woman is like a crystal glass, once cracked she can never be fixed.’
Passion Acrylic on Canvas and Mixed Media Dimensions: 1.20m x 1.4om Signed and dated on the reverse 'n 2013'
Once broken, those emotions can never be fixed, I mean, it never returns with the same person. Yes, yes, you will love again, I hope. Eventually...
Yes Acrylic on Canvas and Mixed Media Dimensions: 1m x 1.20m Signed and dated on the reverse 'n 2013'
Reflection says so many things, and in so many ways. It’s opened ended. Your perception standing before the work is your reality.
Forever Acrylic on Canvas and Mixed Media Dimensions: 1.60m x 1.80m Signed and dated on the reverse 'n 2013'
INWORDS/INWARDS Martine Antle: Nadine, could you first tell us something about your art training in London and the extent to which it might have shaped your artistic journey? Nadine Hammam: London was not at all what I thought it would be. I had a very naïve view of art school and realized quickly that it was very competitive and often nasty. After my first experience with crits, I left crying! However, it taught me much; it enabled me to rethink my practice. I was forced to question everything I was making. MA: What artists or artistic communities have been influential in your work? NH: Ghada Amer, a wonderful friend and artist whose voice echoes delicately in my head, ‘no, no, no. I don’t see it,’ - and pushes me to rethink my approach. MA: Any other artists? NH: Barbara Kruger, Egon Schiele, Tracy Emin, Louise Bourgeois, Marina Abramovic, Sophie Calle, Lucian Freud, Francis Bacon, Gary Hume, to name just a few, and each one has influenced me differently. MA: You moved back to Cairo after your training in London. How has this orientated or re-oriented your work? NH: I’m not sure if it has re-oriented my work. Everything I create stems from Cairo. Even though I
was also partially raised abroad, I am deeply rooted here. Returning to Cairo to make art was difficult, especially with the nature of my work. I knew it would be a challenge to show it and I faced much opposition. After endless ‘NOs,’ I finally got my first ‘YES’ from Townhouse, and I will always be thankful to William Wells. Still, I am continually dismayed by the frequent commentary here in Egypt that I am trying to shock; I don’t find anything I make shocking. I am very comfortable with the human figure and I have used it in my work to deconstruct social taboos and complex social structures. Changing this mindset will definitely be a challenge, and sadly, I’m not sure it will change in my lifetime.
MA: Has any of your work been censored? NH: By making this kind of work, you are always fighting and challenging censorship. Although I have never had my work taken down from a show, it has been censored through the media. I call this a kind of self-censorship, particularly in the Arabic media - what isn’t seen doesn’t exist or isn’t happening.
MA: Why did you move back to Egypt? What role would you like to play in the Egyptian artistic community today? NH: I didn’t want to be the artist who is claiming some sort of false diaspora. I wanted to challenge the
art scene in Egypt. I think some artists have resigned themselves to the fact that ‘the nude’ is forbidden, though I’m not aware of any official law that forbids it. There are very few artists willing to expose themselves in this way. Rendering the nude used to be taught in arts schools with real models; now art students are drawing or painting fruits and flower arrangements, trees and landscapes.
It’s a tricky subject. Pornography is definitely forbidden and there’s a delicate negotiation between what is considered pornography and art. The trouble with ‘nudity’ is cultural and religious. Politics of the ‘body’ and its negotiation both in the public and private space is very complex. The flip-side is that galleries often say ‘no’ because the nude is a difficult sale, and after all, they’re dealers. Galleries try to dictate what they think will sell. Still, I remain stubborn. Few are willing to continue the journey with you. In addition, no one is willing to hang 'nudes' in a public space and even in what is considered private space. Collectors hang them in their bedrooms, but never in the ‘public’ space of their homes. I can think of only one collector in Egypt who does. The gaze of the other, and how that gaze might be misperceived is always taken into account.
my bedroom that came crashing down. Perhaps the evil eye, but I’m not superstitious. I picked up all the pieces and kept them, not knowing what to do with them. And no, I’m not a hoarder! Perhaps there’s some latent thought of my grandmother somewhere. She used to hold up this crystal glass and say ‘the woman is like a crystal glass, once cracked, she can never be fixed.’ Big influence in my life… Perhaps I'm constantly fighting and deconstructing that.
MA: What is different about your current work with mirrors? NH: This is the first series of works that contain no figures. But yet there is a figure - the reflection of the person standing before the mirror. I have been fascinated with mirrors for some time. I find them illusive and seductive as well as disturbing.
MA: Are you currently more concerned with the aesthetics of representation or are you still privileging the verbal message, or both? NH: Both.
MA: How has your artistic journey brought you to work with mirrors?
MA: What brought you to consider mirroring as a medium in your recent work WHY to inscribe and communicate your message about love?
NH: Mirrors were an accident. I had a huge mirror in
NH: So that you can see yourself in the ‘word’. I
wanted to embrace and make fun of the ultimate cliché of love, but to show that at the same time we all want it. Every movie, every song contains something about 'love.’ The end of a relationship is clear - what is broken can’t be fixed and I wanted to reflect ‘the end’. You see yourself cracked and fragmented, yet your mind fills in the rest of your body. Reflection says so many things, and in so many ways. It’s openedended. Your perception standing before the work is your reality. MA: Where do you place humor?
NH: Humor is a big part of my work. There’s always humor somewhere when one blurs the boundaries between fiction and reality. MA: What words have you chosen, and why? How did you make these choices?
NH: Lust, Desire, Kiss, Passion, Love, Yes, Forever... and there’s no order. I chose words that reflect and situate a relationship – I wanted to deconstruct those emotions. Once broken, those emotions can never be fixed, I mean, it never returns with the same person. Yes, yes, you will love again, I hope. Eventually... MA: Do you see this new work as a continuation of your exploration of text and image in your previous work or as another turning point?
NH: It’s definitely a continuation of my exploration of text and image, but there is also a turning point:
a blurring of the boundaries between fiction and reality. In the past, I worked with real people, first by photographing them and then drawing them. Now, I'm blurring the boundaries. What’s fiction could be real, and what’s real could be fiction.
MA: What can you tell us about your female bodies in Heartless? What type of media did you use? NH: I used the figure to emphasize women as objects of desire – a projection of a male, two- dimensional viewpoint – and juxtaposed it against her emotions, thoughts, and vulnerabilities represented in bold text. I used silver foil, crystals, paper, and acrylic on canvas.
MA: And Tank Girl, do you consider her one of your most powerful female figures? NH: Tank Girl is a reference to the ‘Blue Bra Girl,’ and every other woman who was assaulted and violated during the uprising. She is an icon for every woman. She is also Egypt in the feminine (in Arabic). This work is a pun on the word ‘tirkab’, Arabic for ‘to ride’, which also connotes various other meanings, to overcome, to be ridden – to have power over the other. She is strong, proud and defiant, the inverse of a power dynamic between the army regime and the people as well as men and women.
a sense of urgency. Arabic script is very flowing and stylized, so it doesn’t have the same effect. I will definitely use Arabic one day, though. This also brings to light an interesting transgression in our society and deconstructs the relationship between language and gender politics. Certain things cannot be talked about in Arabic. Sexual references are made in English, even if the person doesn’t speak English. But again, this is very different depending on social strata.
MA: Do you agree that your work is political? If so, is there a message in your art?
MA: Do you think that women’s issues have to be addressed on a global scale today?
MA: How do you position yourself in the art world today? Are you an activist? A storyteller? A mediator?
NH: Definitely! But they’re not only women’s issues. They are issues about both men and women and are constructed in opposition to one another. Clearly, the discourse is at a very different stage in Egypt and countries like Egypt, each with their own set of problems. I am always surprised when people talk about women’s issues, or issues independently of the male, or the other.
NH: I don’t know that I would call myself an activist, a storyteller or a mediator. I have used storytelling to deconstruct social dynamics and I have made politically motivated work. However, I think that fundamentally I don’t feel pigeonholed by any ‘label’. I make what I make from what moves me at the core of my being.
MA: Is there a particular reason why you chose red for the background of some of your work with mirrors?
NH: I worked with colors that evoke and represent the word.
MA: Why do you choose the English language in your work? Do you situate yourself as a transnational artist?
MA: What challenges, constraints and new possibilities are you discovering with this new media?
NH: Yes, I do. I see language as universal. So far, I have used fonts that are bold and direct, that express
NH: Sharp! Dangerous! Backbreaking! But beautiful!
NH: What does political mean? Everything is political on some level. Art is a negotiation and that’s all 'political' is.
MA: As an artist today, what concerns do you have? NH: I am moved by poverty, social injustice and inequality.
Founded in 2010, ArtTalks has established itself as a highly selective search engine for Egypt’s next generation of contemporary artists and an authority on high quality secondary market works by twentieth century Egyptian masters. ArtTalks manages the estate of the late painter and sculptor Dr Sobhy Guirguis, a seminal artist who recently passed away in January 2013. Part of our income is channeled into an Art Fund that we manage, to support high potential emerging artists and on financing an extensive educational program aimed at growing the number of art collectors and art patrons in Egypt. We run a yearly curriculum on the history of Egyptian modern and contemporary art and invite scholars from abroad to give talks to the public. Founded by arts patron Fatenn Mostafa, former CEO of Gianaclis Vineyards for Beverages and former advisor to Bozar, Center of Fine Arts in Brussels, Belgium, the gallery is committed to the defense of freedom of art in Egypt and to strengthen Egypt's position on the regional art map.
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