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K Files 831

Tarek Al-Ghoussein2013

Contemporary Art Platform (CAP) Kuwait

Contemporary Art Platform (CAP) Kuwait
Shuwaikh Industrial Area, Kuwait

Looking into images from K-Files, one is struck with a deep sense of loss and longing; the figure in each photo seems to be the only person left in the world.
Al-Ghoussein has said of his work, “It is not about me, it is about a figure or a person, an actor in a scene and it explores the identity of the land and how we define ourselves through the landscape.” Al-Ghoussein’s photos are very much like film stills, each one beckoning a narrative; and considering the comparison of the figure in his photos to “actors in a scene” brings to mind movies like El Topo and Paris, Texas, featuring self-reflective characters roving through desolate deserts. In the former, the protagonist is on a quest, and in the latter he is lost in grief. In Al-Ghoussein’s image, the figure also seems lost, disconnected from a sense of home or belonging, always alone, and utterly dwarfed by the vastness of a structure or landscape, such as the image showing him sitting inside the ruins of a chandeliered hall or standing before a cluster of residential towers. In a way, this figure is also a watcher, a silent observer of his surroundings. Though the environments fill the picture plane, it is impossible to ignore the lone figure in each one.

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  • Title: K Files 831
  • Creator: Tarek Al-Ghoussein
  • Date Created: 2013
  • Location Created: Kuwait
  • Physical Dimensions: 60x90 cm
  • Type: Photography
  • Medium: Digital Print
  • Art Form: Photography
  • Support: Paper
  • Depicted Location: Kuwait
  • Depicted Topic: Kuwait, Photography, Paper
  • Artist nationality: Kuwaiti
Contemporary Art Platform (CAP) Kuwait

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