Old Poet
2016
From Ashab Al-Lal / Fault Mirage, A Thousand Lost Years
Wood slide projector with glass slide
21.5 × 11.5 × 9.5 cm each
From Ashab Al-Lal / Fault Mirage, A Thousand Lost Years
Wood slide projector with glass slide
21.5 × 11.5 × 9.5 cm each
This work takes in the farthest reaches of the Kingdom and its recent past – from its establishment in 1932, through the oil boom of the 1970s and 1980s. Looking to the administrative metropolis of Riyadh, the intense production of the oil fields in the East and the obscured and fading stories of life before the petrodollar flooded the desert with cars, concrete buildings and the trappings of the West.
Each work is composed of an old slide, rescued from collections that would otherwise be forgotten and lost, and then modified through its mode of presentation – the doubling of the image, the combination, alignment and misalignment of historical moments causing new collisions and new narratives. These glimpses into the past represent significant moments from Saudi history and are layered with scenes of development and change – the monoliths of globalisation.
In the desert, the mirage is the traveller’s book and without it, without the mirage he won’t continue searching... Mahmoud Darwish
Each work is composed of an old slide, rescued from collections that would otherwise be forgotten and lost, and then modified through its mode of presentation – the doubling of the image, the combination, alignment and misalignment of historical moments causing new collisions and new narratives. These glimpses into the past represent significant moments from Saudi history and are layered with scenes of development and change – the monoliths of globalisation.
