Double Take: Akram Zaatari and the Arab Image Foundation

Confused exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery of works by Hashem el Madani from the collection on the Arab Image Foundation and curated by Akram Zaatari.

I say confused because with all the names involved it was unclear at first who did what and what you were actually looking at. I liked the pictures but found the narrative confusing. Madani ran Studio Shehrazade from the early 1950s in Saida, Lebanon . His work was often influenced by films showing at the local cinema as people came in after seeing a film and asked to pictured in poses from the film.

Many pictures show loving gestures between same sex couples which Zaatari explains are because the sexes couldn’t mix in that society until married so people practiced gestures and kissing with their friends. Part of Zaatari’s curation is to show how these are seen differently when shown in an exhibition.

Closes on 3 September 2017

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