"Muhawwil" is a four-channel video installation based on Islamic figurative murals painted on electric power stations in Kuwait. These murals mark a transformation in religious discourse within Gulf societies: where once only calligraphic depictions of this nature were allowed, today’s pop-culture and mass-production of images have forced conservative entities to reconsider this tradition and take up a mutated technique to convey moral advice - wall paintings. This project reconstructs these paintings into animation, so as to highlight the dilemma of representation that exists between the ancient and the modern.
This project was produced with the support of The Arab Fund for Arts & Culture (AFAC).
About the artist:
Monira Al Qadiri is a Kuwaiti artist born in Senegal and educated in Japan. In 2010, she received a Ph.D. in inter-media art from Tokyo University of the Arts. Her research is focused on the aesthetics of sadness in the Middle-East, and her works explore the dysfunctional gender roles in Arab societies, as well as the displacement of cultural and religious identities. She has held solo exhibitions in Japan & Kuwait, and participated in collective exhibitions and screenings in Dubai, Beirut, New York, London, Berlin, Paris & Shanghai among others. She is also a member of the artist collective GCC.
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Gallery opening hours:
Opening 21st January 7-9pm
22nd until 28th January 6-9pm
(closed on Friday & Saturday)
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