By Sami Zaptia.
London, 22 September 2017:
The Pop Art from North Africa exhibition opened yesterday evening at the P21 Gallery in London for a private viewing featuring together for the first time the artworks of fifteen creative individuals from North Africa who are all inspired by the Pop Art movement.
The exhibition featured Libyan artists Alla Abudabbus and Malak Elghuel, but also included thirteen other North African artists: Mouad Aboulhana (Morocco), Rasha Amin (Egypt), Amel Benaoudia (Algeria), Dhafer Ben Khalifa (Tunisia), Walid Bouchouchi (Algeria), El3ou (Algeria), Sarah Basma Harnafi (Morocco), Sarroura Libre (Tunisia), Meryem Meg (Algeria-Bulgaria), Ilyes Messaoudi (Tunisia), El-Moustach (Algeria), Qarm Qart (Italy-Egypt) and Sofiane Si Merabet (Algeria).
The exhibition was curated by Najlaa El-Ageli and Toufik Douid in collaboration with the Arab British Centre. The organizers say that the exhibition reflects on how the featured artists have become public commentators whilst rejoicing in their local identity, in the context of a globalized consumerist world that we all share.
The art encompasses the critical interplay between Western exported products and how they are consumed in North Africa – simultaneously representing a complex dialogue between Western and non-Western cultures.
The exhibition aims to provide a fresh alternative perspective on the Maghreb for the British public and to draw attention to the popular-cultural narratives emerging from North Africa. It also hopes to show how global brands can have a totally new dimension and value when adopted by others.
Featured Libyan pop artist Alla Abudabbus who resides in Tripoli, has a distinctive focus on Libyan contemporary culture. He boldly provides an ironic social commentary whilst confronting the Libyann mindset. His most famous piece ‘‘Haja Hurriya’’ was picked by the Benetton Foundation to be the image for the Libya Imago Mundi 2016 show.
Asked by Libya Herald how he felt being exhibited in a number of international exhibitions recently and what did that say about his and Libyan art Abbudabbus said from Tripoli that he was ‘‘thrilled of course. There is a bright side of Libya and we are full of hope of a better tomorrow.’’
Asked how had life changed for artists in Libya post-Qaddafi, he said that today ‘‘with the vast number of social media platforms..(this has).. brought artists/young artist up to the art scene without the need of mediators, as social media has allowed their work to reach local and international crowds with less expense. This is how I found my way through my page and I dedicated my page to shed the light on new young Libyan talent. I took it as a mission.’’
Asked what inspires his art, he said ‘‘what inspire me, is everyday life, old sayings, social trends and mostly Libyan proverbs beside my soft spot for furashia (the traditional women’s white wrap around garment featuredin one of Alla’s posters) and the old city of Tripoli and Benghazi’’
The work of another Libyan artist featured in the exhibition, Malak Elghuel, is predominantly of time-based media in the form of video art, but she also utilizes different integrations of mixed media, from collage prints to screen prints. She has been exhibited in several festivals, including the 23rd International Video Art Festival (FIAV) in Casablanca and others in France, Holland and the USA.
”At the moment I am not a resident in Libya so I cannot really speak on behalf of female artists in Libya”, El-Ghuel told Libya Herald. ”But from what I have seen lately , there is definitely more participation from the younger generation, something that can be expected after a long period of instability in the country”.
”Difficult times tend to enrich the art scene. I believed it happened before in Lebanon, Bosnia and etc. For me most of my inspiration comes from stories and tales my grandmother used to tell us. I draw a lot from memories and personal events. I believe that through art we can somehow save and preserve our memories.”
”Khosh-Khasha is inspired by Dreams written by Guy de Maupassant set in the 18th century about a French doctor who is addicted to ether. The animation is based on the sedative , Khashkhosha, that was given to kids in Libya to put them to sleep. The story unfolds through a phone conversation between two mothers. The concept is the same, the characters, timeframe, cultures cannot be more different. I like to draw connections between the past and present, there and here, different cultures and different civilization. I believe that we are all the same. human emotions and behaviour are universal.”
For aesthetic inspiration and mood I try to look from within our own culture first, things like fashion / art / patterns / colour palette and so on. I would say the thing that helped me the most with the visual aesthetic is fashion, for example the colours that I used are the colours of the fabric of my grandmother’s traditional dresses. As for the characters, I found inspiration from tradition African masks, also textures and patterns and so on. Also, I used a lot of old photographs from my grandmothers collection ( the kid at the end of the video was actually her), explained El-Ghuel.
On 27 September Libyan writer Libyan Ghazi Gheblawi will be at the exhibition to trace the history and development of satirical cartoons and their popular consumption by Libyans living at home and abroad. Accessible and available even during Qaddafi’s regime, the lampooning comics of Mohamed Zwawi and Hassan Dhaimish, for example, played a major role in chronicling the social, cultural and political facets of being a Libyan; and, now, they serve as archives that provided a scathing commentary on the recent past. Gheblawi is a published author of many literary pieces in English and Arabic as well as penning two collections of short stories. He hosts the ‘Imtidad’ cultural blog that covers literature and the arts in the UK and the Arab world.
He was one of the founders of the online newspaper ‘Libya Alyoum’ and involved in many start-up online media projects including Libya Press News Agency. Currently, he is a council member of the Society for Libyan Studies in Britain, a trustee of the Banipal Trust for Arab Literature and editor at DARF Publishers.
The Pop Art from North Africa exhibition will include a parallel programme of events and runs for six weeks from 22 September to 4 November at the P21 Gallery in 21 Charlton Street, London NW1 1JD. See www.p21.org.uk or for opening times and further details.
