Studio Aftermath

Studio Aftermath is part of a series developped for the project Relics produced in 2006 in Beirut, Lebanon, following the encounter of a unique collection from a photographer that fled the Civil War in the 80's. The owner left his life's work and belongings behind, which aura and traces are still as vivid as the bullet holes crippling the building where his studio remains. These memories and objects are turned into relics through the exotic gaze and the nostalgia stemming from the archive; from an Occidental point of view, the depictions of war and conflicts are almost fetishised, like ruins that are compelling and alluring for the audience from a distant gaze. The visuals in the series represent as much a constructed reality ( through the use of props and backgrounds) as a fantasised or mythological account of the events that (might) have happened, playing with codes and stereotypes, the kitsch and the macabre. I intend to interrogate, to confront the viewer and myself as an artist upon the inherent ability of the medium to create vernacular, alternative narratives that can border with the mythological, particularly regarding History and events.

Mimicking a process know as dioramas, the construction and production of these staged scenes intend to project and superimpose an altered reality, as an incarnation of traumatic events that occured in the daily life of the photographer.