“I’m a modern and traditional man at the same time”

DEDICATED: Faraj Daham worked in the dark and burnt his hands creating the masterpieces in the background.     Photo by Umer NangianaBy Umer NangianaA look at the body of his work currently on display at one of the biggest art spaces in town — Al Riwaq Gallery — and you wonder what they are about. The first one is an installation of black gas cylinders randomly placed on a white floor in multiple layers of circular motion. On the surface, the installation is two-dimensional; deep down, it is multi-dimensional. It makes you stop and ponder. However, the interpretation remains elusive unless you get to know at least some part of how the artist conceived it.Community approached the creator of the installation, a veteran Qatari artist Faraj Daham, and sat him down for an interview. Besides sharing his ideas and inspiration behind ‘Spring Flowers’ — the title of his work in question — Daham speaks about his evolution as an artist.Spring Flowers is a critique of the Arab Spring. “Arab Spring is like ‘Spring Flowers’. The cylinders that I have used, about 54 pieces, they talk about pressure. The black colour symbolises the black clothes people are wearing and there are a lot of heads, like flowers sprouting in spring,” Daham says, philosophically.The cylinders have been put in different ways so that they look different from different dimensions. It gives a different meaning to different viewers. The main concept in the cylinders’ installation however, is pressure.Faraj believes this kind of pressure is not healthy as its sudden release can destroy life. The concept revolves around the notion that a wayward and directionless spurt of ideas in an uncontrolled environment has the potential to derail systemic human life and destroy the social fabric. ‘Spring Flowers’ is one of the painful truths that touched the conscience of humanity. Referred to by many as the Arab Spring, it started with the ‘Jasmine’ icon revolution in Tunis that resulted in the ‘Arab Spring’, recalls Daham.“The artistic attempt in this research focuses on commemorating the images of the body under a heavy ‘scar’ from the past which cannot depart from the soul and memory,” the artist explains. “The scene reflecting action and reaction, in fact, inspires Spring Flowers. As a result, I did not find a more fitting name that describes the verbal meaning of all that people have been through,” he adds.Spring Flowers is the explanation of the phenomenon, he says, of the overlapping in our reality and the remnants of a profound impact behind the events. Flowers finally result in the destruction of the wall, leading to refugees, he adds.  Daham pins his work around “human beings” and “nature”. He is closely knitted with his culture. Man can make life and he can destroy life as well, he says.“I try to look at man from different angles in different situations. It is the point of my focus all the time. The body, its movement, stability and the resultant dialogue; all these are subjects in my paintings,” says Daham.The second concept in Daham’s exhibition, ‘Here There’ at Al Riwaq, is titled ‘showcase’. “The idea is how the object from a showcase sees the objects looking at it from outside. It is the product in the showcase that is seeing the customers, for instance, in a mall,” suggests Daham.It is a series of paintings which would look like steel until you get close to it and observe it from zero distance. “A lot of people asked me if this was steel, I said no, it is canvas. I worked hard to keep it as canvas yet make it look like steel,” says Daham.The artist’s experience is intricately linked to the movement of organic bodies. Daham worked for a very long time on rendering images and showcasing them in a single space condensed by both action and reaction, while portraying bodily energy in a manner that captures the essence of its potential to change.“Looking into a reflective mirror takes you to the extent of self-appreciation. Try looking for your features in the parts of a broken mirror. While the first refers to the essence of ego and self-love, the second pertains to the multiplicity of abstract reflection of the one in the mirror,” says Daham, adding that either way, the mirror will always reflect the image of the person standing in front of it as a whole.“Today, as back then, I continue to re-read the images and themes that I have encountered in the past; as they are grounded in reality, facts are hard to ignore,” adds the artist.Daham has directly worked on capturing the fragmentation and decay that affects bodies, which are always tormented, and on searching for the appropriate artistic equivalent to rearrange organic entities. Daham believes that all these transformations affect the body and its abilities, and influence the path of its spontaneous growth.Daham uses colour synthesis to contain the visual medium away from superfluous aesthetics on the painting’s surface. He is the brains behind the Visual Art Centre, situated in Katara Cultural Village these days. He says he has been working on this idea since 1998.“I called it Visual Art Centre because, for me, ideas are more important than material. My mind is continuously updating. I feel I am a modern and traditional man at the same time. It is important to consider what is going on around you and what is your relationship with life,” says Daham.He is keener on digging deep into his culture and discovering its hidden aspects. “I am not interested in the outside of it. Eventually, everything is coming from the visuals — from the eyes. What is the meaning of what you see and the image that is formed inside you after seeing something is important to understand,” says Daham.The next project that he is working on is even more exciting, he calls it ‘Hot Plate.’ It is a huge carpet made of steel. “It will be a huge carpet woven with steel. Now I have decided to move to real steel. It will be steel collected from waste and not purchased from the market. It is not going to be warm, but hot because I am going to use fire, welding, grinding, chemicals to burn it and hot chemical powders,” says DahamBorn in Doha in 1956, Daham pursued his Bachelor’s degree in the Higher Institute of Theatric Arts in Kuwait between 1980 and 1984. He graduated in 1988 with a Master’s degree in Fine Arts from Ball State University, USA.Daham aptly succeeded in capturing the imagination of both Qatari and global audiences and has won many prestigious awards. His work is held in numerous public and private collections throughout the world.