Return of the Soul

The exhibition, “Return of the Soul,” currently on view at Prince Claus Fund Gallery in Amsterdam, features works from five selected grantees of the 2014 Arab Documentary Photography Programme (ADPP). Launched in 2014 by the Arab Fund for Art and Culture and the Prince Claus Fund, in partnership with the Magnum Foundation, ADPP supports documentation of important social issues relevant to the Arab region, with a vision to raise the level of creative documentary photography and provide professional development for photographers. Each year, a juror’s committee comprised of Arab and international judges select up to ten photographers to receive financial and professional support to actualize their proposed projects.

Among the diversifying concerns addressed through the work of the five participants in “Return of the Soul,” they all shared a common thread: to document and to reflect upon various pressing humanitarian issues through their own personal experience in the context of a social landscape ravaged by conflict.

The displacement and pathos of Syrian refugees are humorously depicted through the lens of Syrian-born, Beirut-based photographer and filmmaker Omar Imam, while Lebanese-British photojournalist, Natalie Naccache, uses a variety of mediums, including personal archives and diary entries, photography and videos, to explore the psychological effects of Syrian women in exile. Also turning the gaze on women is Jerusalem-born visual artist Samar Hazboun, whose photographs of Palestinian women denied access to hospitals and forced to give birth at Israeli military checkpoints, succinctly addresses violence against women and the problems of women’s rights in the Middle East.

By focusing his observation on urban life in Kuwait, self-taught Kuwait photographer Faisal al-Fouzan’s unusual eye for banal objects and depiction of the subculture of marginalized people stands in contrast to Emirati photographer Reem Falaknaz’s formal and fascinating work chronicling the dwindling population of people who live and work in the Hajjar Mountains in Ras al- Khaimah, in the Northern part of United Arab Emirates.

Although the establishment of ADPP is still in a nascent stage, I am encouraged by the heart and vision of its founders in recognizing the importance and the need for more of this type of support for those who take up the art of documentary photography. The appointment of Susan Meiselas—currently president of Magnum Foundation and an excellent documentary photographer in her own right—as the program advisor will certainly reinforce the reputation of ADDP and its direction. In an interview with Muftah, an online website providing incisive analysis on countries in the Middle East and North Africa, Hazboun’s words echoes perhaps one of the inspired principles behind the birth of this program, “. . . I want to deliver a message through my art, to create more than just a two-dimensional image, to tell the story behind the photo and shed light on important topics. Art should be more than just a beautiful product. Many photographers nowadays forget the importance of using tools and skills for something a bit deeper and more socially resonant.”

Billy Kung is photo editor at ArtAsiaPacific.