Mohammed Kazem

Even the Shade Does not Belong to Them

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Mohammed Kazem, Even the Shade Does not Belong to Them, 2018, Acrylic and ink on canvas, 106 x 140.5 cm, Images courtesy of Isabelle Van Den Eynde Gallery, Art Jameel Collection

Artwork Details

Artist

Mohammed Kazem

Title

Even the Shade Does not Belong to Them

Date

2018

Medium

Acrylic and ink on canvas

Dimensions

106 x 140.5 cm

Credit Line

Art Jameel Collection

Work Description

In his series of tonal paintings Even the Shade Does Not Belong to Them, Mohammed Kazem takes as his subjects migrant workers at construction sites around the UAE. Based on photographs taken by the artist, the figures are painted with swashes of dark-coloured acrylic paint and washed over with many layers of ink, preventing an easy reading of the scenes, as if looking through a veil of smoke or murky glass. Only vague outlines of the forms can be seen, a subtle delineation of figures painting a wall can be identified in one composition, a man sorting through rubbish in another, the vertical lines of scaffolding perhaps, washing hanging on a line: but an easy reading is denied.

The treatment of the paintings creates distance between the scene and the viewer, which echoes the specific reality of life in the Gulf and specifically for Kazem the UAE, that blue collar workers are ever present, but largely go unnoticed, rendered invisible within the everyday urban landscape. Though the workers are responsible for the city’s construction, Kazem suggests in these works that they are at times excluded from the privileges these buildings bring. As depicted in Kazem’s ongoing series titled Windows, the reality of daily life for such workers is long hours spent in oppressive, bright conditions, working outside under a relentless boiling sun, where there is little shade.  The darkness of the paintings is therefore posing a powerful statement on social stratification in the UAE. 

Artist Biography

Mohammed Kazem (b.1969, Dubai, United Arab Emirates) lives and works in Dubai

Mohammed Kazem has developed an artistic practice that encompasses video, photography and performance to find new ways of apprehending his environment and experiences. The foundations of his work are informed by his training as a musician, and Kazem is deeply engaged with developing processes that can render transient phenomena, such as sound and light, in tangible terms. Acknowledged as one of the ‘Five’, an informal group of artists at the vanguard of conceptual and interdisciplinary art practice in the UAE, Kazem has an MFA from the University of the Arts, Philadelphia (2012) and is also active as a curator, co-curating the 8th Sharjah Biennial (2007). In addition to representing the UAE at the 55th Venice Biennale (2013), he has exhibited prolifically in the UAE and notable international participations include the Lyon Biennale (2022), Yinchuan Biennale and Honolulu Biennial (both 2016), Singapore Biennial (2006), Asian Art Biennial, Dhaka (2002) and Havana Biennial (2000). His works are held in the collections of the British Museum; Guggenheim Abu Dhabi and New York; Ullens Centre for Contemporary Art; and the Koç Foundation, Istanbul among others.

Useful Links

 

Group Exhibition: ‘Silent Hands’

Second Hand