Conversations with Artists: Tarek Al-Ghoussein
Tarek Al-Ghoussein’s work explores themes concerned with longing, belonging and how land, barriers and identity shape and define each other.
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Tarek Al-Ghoussein, D II series (untitled 1), 2009, chromogenic print, photograph courtesy of the artist
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Tarek Al-Ghoussein, D II series (untitled 3), 2009, chromogenic print, photograph courtesy of the artist
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Tarek Al-Ghoussein, D II series (untitled 11), 2009, chromogenic print, photograph courtesy of the artist
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Tarek Al-Ghoussein, D II series (untitled 12), 2009, chromogenic print, photograph courtesy of the artist
Tarek Al-Ghoussein, D II series (untitled 13), 2009, chromogenic print, photograph courtesy of the artist
SAF: In your D II series photographs, the locations are reminiscent of construction sites. What kind of places are these and what do they represent to you?
Tarek: The locations I picked aren’t really construction sites. I selected this place because it seemed anonymous. I have often said I choose locations much in the same way a film director does, in that I move between abstraction and the specific circumstances found in particular places.
The work can be read as a response to several of the United Nations resolutions, specifically those that address issues of locating borders and displacement. It is an attempt to address the arbitrary enforcement of certain UN Resolutions over others.
SAF: How do you decide where to locate yourself in an image?
Tarek: The decision is both a formal and conceptual one.
SAF: What type of camera do you use?
Tarek: Nikon D3X.
Tarek Al-Ghoussein’s D II Series is part of the Sharjah Art Foundation Collection.
Born in Kuwait in 1962. Al-Ghoussein lives and works in the United Arab Emirates. His work is in permanent collections at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the Royal Museum of Photography in Copenhagen, Darat Al Funun in Amman, and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York.