Toufic Beyhum: Amoji

Toufic Beyhum connects with his surroundings through the camera lens. The professional creative director and amateur photographer (by his own humble estimation) has always been candidly observant – whether on his daily commute in Berlin or attending Friday prayer in London – and is constantly in search of behavioural and sociological patterns and trends. Beyhum deliberately refrains from intervening in his environments, so as to provide his viewers with an honest, reportagelike account of the secrets that lie in the cultures that he encounters. Since relocating to Namibia, Beyhum continues to follow his natural urge to observe and report. While he encountered a unique culture in Namibia, he noticed that influences of digital communication have made their way through the fabric of society, in which Namibians, too, are speaking the universal language of emojis.

Considering there are infinite variations and combinations to communicate with emojis, Beyhum took interest in exploring the dialect created in Namibia, and Africa in general. He conducted a casual survey to characterise emoji preferences and digital behaviours, which developed into the concept Amoji – short for “African emoji”. He found that everyone he spoke to is familiar with and uses emojis, with the exception of a few who refer to them as expressions. The majority use black emojis as opposed to light or neutral-coloured ones and the most popular ones are the smiling face with heartshaped eyes, the face with tears of joy, the grimacing face, the pleading face, the winking face with tongue, the crying face and the grinning face with squinting eyes.

To visualise this phenomenon, Beyhum chose a comparatively primitive approach, in which he made it tangible and focused on capturing natural physical gestures that occur behind the mask of a particular emoji, rather than confronting it digitally. He collaborated with two local artists to create six emojis in the form of wearable traditional African masks, made from locally sourced material. In the months that followed, he drove around the country with the masks in a trunk and presented them to people, requesting them to select one for a picture. Through his process, Beyhum not only identified the power of iconography, but also recognised the pivotal role that African tradition plays in contemporary visual culture. Much like it inspired revolutionary art movements in the past, it maintains a robust connection to visualising human emotion and expression, even in the digital age.

Flexed Biceps is faceless yet instantly recognisable. Captured in daylight, the image shows the exterior anatomy of an arm with tense, flexed biceps. The arm pokes through the centre of the backdrop – a stretched, yellow and blue hive-patterned fabric. In the emoji world, the icon connotes physical and mental strength. While that interpretation is true to the image, Beyhum extends the meaning by contrasting elements from classical Western and African art. Historically, Western art placed significance on accurate realism and physical perfection, while African art focused on symbolism, cultural beliefs and functions. It is a particularly interesting combination, because most people relate to the symbol of strength in the image, and so it asserts the richness of African heritage and how it has become a major pillar in today’s global visual experiences.

In Amoji, Beyhum materialises universal digital icons into physical objects inspired by Namibian culture. The exhibition will be showcased at The Project Room on 9 February.

Supplied by artist

The Project Room - Namibia www.theprojectroom.com.na