Lebanese artists Fares Jammal and Wissam Moubarak are presenting a series of photographic works that offer a unique perspective on nature, in an exhibition titled, Insight into Nature.
Jammal is a photographer and runs his own company in Dubai. Moubarak is an architect and designer based in Beirut. The two artists are childhood friends, and have together devised an innovative way of developing photographic negatives.
The artworks in this show are essentially photographs of trees shot by Jammal during the last 25 years. But when developing the infra-red negatives on photosensitive panchromatic paper in the dark room, instead of putting the whole sheet in the developer, they use a bamboo broom, paint brush or sponges to splash it with developer, so that only some parts of the image are developed, giving the pictures a surreal, dream like quality.
The photographs, in various tones of grey, black and white, look like abstract paintings that capture the ethereal beauty and spirituality inherent in nature. The randomness of the artists’ interventions in the dark room ensures that each photograph is unique, even when developed from the same negative. Besides smaller works, the artists have also created a monumental work, featuring an image of the desert in Dubai, especially for this show. “The idea behind this technique is to create unique painting-like works that give an abstract impression of what we as artists have seen in the image,” Moubarak says.
Jammal is also exhibiting a selection of photographs from his large collection of pictures of bicycles, some of which were published in his book, Haven’t You Seen this Bicycle? They include ordinary cycles, special designer ones, and bicycles used by policemen or farmers that he came across on the streets in various places around the world.
“Some people stare at the clouds to see shapes and characters, I stare at bicycles. Each bicycle has a distinct personality, and together with its surroundings it tells a story,” he says.
Insight into Nature will run at The Workshop, off Al Wasl Road in Jumeirah 2, Dubai, until November 7