Uncovering the Things We Have Concealed—Akram Zaatari

Co-presented with the Douglas F. Cooley Memorial Art Gallery, Reed College

Dec. 2 - 7:30 pm, Nov. 30 - 7:30 pm

$6 Suggested Donation

Artist-in-Attendance

New American Art Union
922 SE Ankeny St

About This Screening

Lebanese video artist and curator Akram Zaatari has created more than 30 videos and installations, and is one of the founding members of the Arab Image Foundation—a Beirut-based organization that aims to promote photography in the Middle East and North Africa by locating, collecting, and preserving the region's photographic heritage. With that, much of Akram's video work is centered on examining the role of photographic representation. Through collecting and archiving images from his country, Akram focuses on historical issues relating to the Lebanese Civil Wars, resistance to and mediation of these conflicts, and male sexuality. The first night of this program features early and recent works encompassing all these points: In This House follows Akram's quest to uncover a buried letter from the Lebanese resistance in a village in southern Lebanon; Red Chewing Gum is a short love poem about the end of a relationship, a changing neighborhood in Beirut, and capturing images. Akram's recent feature length documentary This Day uses as its starting point archival images, from portraits of Bedouins in the desert to war era Beirut, to ruminate on the role of the photograph's ability to convey truth.