Farah Al Qasimi @ Houston Center for Photography

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Farah Al Qasimi @ Houston Center for Photography

November 13th, 2019 by fstop

Farah Al Qasimi: Open Arm Sea
November 22, 2019 – January 12, 2020

Opening Reception on Friday, November 22, from 5:30 – 8:00 pm

“Al Qasimi photographs everyday scenes—kiosks in a shopping mall draped after the close of the day, butterflies delicately perched on an orange slice, a portrait of a man comfortably reclining at home. Yet, despite the quotidienne nature of the subject matter, the photos present a mysterious tension, revealing matter-of-fact truths while obscuring others through paradox and ambiguity. A portrait of a falcon—a powerful bird of prey—is masked by its handler rendering it blind; a turned back in army fatigues is touched by a strange hand extending from outside the image frame; a man’s face disappears in vaporized smoke while a woman, only half inside the picture plane, gestures towards him. Through these fragmented, dreamlike scenes, the artist subtly points to the nuances of power and vulnerability, of surveillance and agency, and ultimately underscores the uncertainty of the photograph, whether private, public, or somewhere in between. Open Arm Sea is the artist’s first exhibition in Texas and her second solo exhibition at an institution in the United States.”

Houston Center for Photography
1441 W. Alabama
Houston, TX 77006

Location: Houston, Texas, United States Type: Exhibition

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