Thesis Supervisor: Dr. Bassam El Baroni

Thesis: DESERT BÆRBÆR

June 2015

Abstract

The patterns of the desert have for a while haunted/hunted my work: invisible, boring, too long, too silent, too noisy, too messy; chaotic. Adjectives that cohabit and over cross each other in the general observation/consternation of my practice.

Desert Bærbær aims to formulate a vocabulary shaped by words being redefined under the constraints of ’desert‘, navigating through my practice as I question it asking the question how can the terminology of the desert be applied to an artistic proposal? 

The text attempts to work through the geological aspects of the desert together with its geopolitical issues and try to approach the “embarrassed landscapes of our world”, places where human colonisation has desecrated the earth. Even though the background to this writing is a series of beautiful landscapes, it is not meant to be picturesque nor idyllic, but rather evocative of inner states, collective dreams and nightmares.

Author: Hanan Benammar