In partnership with ACRE Projects, Photoville is pleased to welcome artist Farah Salem's beautiful and very personal visual project, curated by our colleague and friend Krystal Grow this Spring in our UPI Gallery in DUMBO.

Disclosed is an ongoing performance photography traveling project which started in Kuwait in 2016. Throughout Farah’s travels, she has made connections and invited individuals from the MENA region who have shared their stories which intersect with hers, along with the documented landscapes, and culture-specific symbols painted on the ‘abaya garments. The ‘abaya in these works is a traditional garment from Kuwait which has been influenced by socio-cultural constructs, traditions, and religious practices over time. The purpose of this garment is complex, yet rooted within sacred privacy.  In this series, the ‘abaya garment stretches the lengths and boundaries of the public and private spaces of the body which holds one’s narrative. The ‘abaya serves as a communication tool to uncover hidden narratives.

Farah Salem

Farah Salem (b. 1991, Kuwait) is an artist, activist and art therapist who is currently based in Chicago. Her studio art and art therapy practices are bridged by social activism and research. Her studio practice is rooted in photography and expands into video, performance, fibers, light/projection, and installation. Working in both urban and natural landscapes, Farah uses these settings to engage in conversations with captured frames, performances, and installations. Her art making process engages personal memories, reflecting on present circumstances, and the stories of collaborating participants who have had similar experiences. She incorporates various cultural symbols to explore the politics of seeing and the roles of access, agency and power in the displacement of identity as a material. 

Farah holds an MA in Art Therapy and Counseling from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a BA in Visual Communications from Gulf University for Science and Technology. Farah’s artwork has been exhibited internationally in galleries and museums such as Mana Contemporary Chicago, Woman Made Gallery, Contemporary Art Platform in Kuwait, Paris Contemporary Art Show, Centro Cultural De Santa Cruz for the Bolivia Biennale and the Katzen Arts Center at the American University Museum. In 2016, Salem published her first photography book titled In-Between the Skyline of Kuwait City. In 2017 Farah was the Laureate winner for the International Women’s Photographers Award.

 

Opening Reception:

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16 Main Street, Gallery B DUMBO
Brooklyn , NY 11201

Wheelchair Accessible

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