REVIEW Images - Courtesy of the artists. Writer - Nada Al Aradi, artist and curator.
For Your Inconsideration Portraying the passage of time For the first time at Bait Al Salmaniya, and for
Hanan Hassan Al Khalifa’s Ageing Aphrodites may
most of the region, an intensely conceptual and
be equally confusing: playing with the collision of
strictly typological photographic exhibition was
aesthetics and the paradox of beauty and decay.
presented. Although typological photography
By photographing posters of beautiful women,
has spread globally, and more recently seeped
she captures the effect of the flow of time on the
into Bahrain, this is one of the first exhibitions
subject, rather than a frozen moment in time. In
dedicated solely to this style. For a public
doing so, she comments on the human condition:
accustomed to street, landscape and journalistic
a photograph of a deteriorating photograph.
photography, this exhibition is likely to turn
Not only does this series of images represent a
many heads, as it separates itself from the pack
continuing line of time and decline it also acts
with its unusual content and approach.
as a mirror: allowing the viewer to question their own mortality and social depictions of female
At photography’s inception, it was expensive and
beauty as timeless and enduring.
timely, and available to the few and privileged– that meant only the decidedly important could
Bader Al Balawi’s kiosks are framed by the empty
be the subject of a picture. In today’s modern
sky and horizon. Similar in nature to Algosaibi’s
world, even though cameras are available to
abandoned cars, these kiosks are documented
the masses, that concept remains. This brings
in a manner that creates the impression that the
us to our four photographers, capturing the
images are identical at first, until the details of
discarded and deteriorating types; ascending
each place reveal themselves: the lights, people,
them to a stage.
and cars re dotted across the landscape. His final image is the bare seafront that serves as a
At first glance, most of these works may appear
nod to the kiosks ephemeral nature and which
meaningless, causing the audience to question
are fleeting in the face of persistent large-scale
why anyone would photograph and exhibit
urban developments.
wrecked cars, as Faris Algosaibi has. Why
At photography’s inception, it was expensive and timely, and available to the few and privileged – that meant only the decidedly important could be the subject of a picture What is most impressive about this collection of four artists is their derivation from the expected.
in this manner? Each image is shot at nearly
Asma Murad’s structures reach far beyond
Rather than being concerned with beautiful or
identical angles, at night, and with a front-facing
the image she presents. In showing decrepit
precious objects, they shine light on overlooked
view. Algosaibi has unified the subject into a
architecture and silent abandoned homes, she
and unwanted elements of the region’s ever-
single frame; a mugshot of abandoned cars. He
invites that audience to view these places as
changing landscape and ask what these objects
removes external influences exposing only the
stages. A timeline of events sit, at the core of
represent in today’s modern world. In moving
uniqueness of each individual car. He documents
these images, and we are asked to contemplate
beyond photography’s typical purpose of
their state, and acknowledges their existence,
the human history that unfolded and took place
capturing a single moment in time, they are also
before they are removed from the scene.
at these locations.
able to portray the passage of time itself.
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