"Message from Under the Feet" at Tashkeel Center, until January 28

Mays AlBaik: My exhibition in Dubai is the result of many questions

Mays: I aim to bring 3D and 2D in work through videos and by repeating words in them.

Photography: Patrick Castillo

Palestinian artist Mays Al-Beik confirmed that her recent exhibition "A Message From Under the Feet" in Dubai is a reflection of all her interest in the issue of language, body and space, noting that her works present multiple possibilities for occupying a space and a certain space without real and physical presence in it, and how affiliation can be hypothetically. Sometimes due to an overlap between physical presence and language.

In her interview with "Emirates Today" on the sidelines of her exhibition, which opened at the Tashkeel Center, and will continue until January 28, Mays added that her exhibition came as a result of the many questions that she asked about body, language and places, as these questions were translated through multimedia works in which technology is used on wide range.

Our relationship with the place

On the theme of "A Message From Under the Feet", Mays said that "the exhibition is a work that raises questions, or it can be said that it confronts questions that deal with three elements, namely body, language and places. These questions began with the beginning of the critical practice program, as I joined it." When I was thinking about how we can build or draw our relationship with the place and the space in which we attach our feelings, and the questions at the beginning were loaded with many close relationships with places that our bodies did not occupy, and from here came the idea of ​​language that builds close relationships with the place, which can be supplemented Generations and generations ».

She pointed out that it was the idea of ​​the multiplicity of places that was interesting to her, including the idea of ​​the multiplicity of experiences, and how a person can occupy the void in the virtual space, considering that the existence of a complete life behind screens in our current age is proof of that «as we can belong to More than one place, and this is not an indication of where the body belongs. ”

On the connection of language to her work, Mays emphasized that she is very attached to writing, and has a lot of interest in the origins of words, and she worked on searching for the origins of many of them, and then took her progress in artistic works in an embodiment, so that the word becomes multiple shapes and possibilities, including for example words that contain On the vowels “which you consider sick letters, and disease requires treatment, according to Siboye’s definition of it.”

She stated that this matter opened the horizon for her to look more into the words and the void that it sometimes contained, as if she was careful with the vowels and how they were dealt with, it raised her attention to the existence of a major change in the language “which indicates that language is moving in a void, and it is not an empty void, Rather, it is a language that moves in a way full of surreal moving things and ideas, and from here it can be confirmed that the works are an experiment, and put these ideas together to test what will happen to them through the work of art.

She noted that her work clearly expresses the experiences in which ideas are developed, as the spatial space is associated with man by his physical relationship, but it happens that a person occupies a place while he is not present in it, and in various ways, and technology has helped in this matter.

3D dimensions and screens

Mais AlBaik brings many ideas to her exhibition through works that specifically use 3D and screens.

Regarding her interest in these media, she said: “I seek to put the three and two dimensions at work through videos and by repeating words in them, as the recipient finds a world that is not easy to reach.

I start out of curiosity in my work, and this curiosity is often chaotic, and therefore when I lead the idea to see what is inside the screen, but the work is always based on a linguistic principle or its connection to the place, and I have a lot of interest in new media, but I do not like Moving away from the technological sciences to the point of forgetting the relationship with the body. Traditional means, such as hair and colors, are very important in the work of art, and this word is often present in my art.

Regarding the cash practice program at the Tashkeel Center in Dubai, she explained that she joined the program, officially, in January 2020, and after that she began researching effectively within a month, that is, with the beginning of the Corona pandemic and the quarantine, which was reflected in the way the program was implemented. Conversations with mentors via the Zoom app, it was all life outside the body and basic communication through the screen, and this was reflected in the works as well.

And she saw that these circumstances highlighted how the electronic culture is higher than the past years in our lives, without these conversations it was difficult to present one's work from home.

"I am out of curiosity in planning the ideas and implications of my work, and this curiosity is often chaotic."

"Poetry is very important in artistic work, and therefore the word is often present in my work in various forms and ways."

Biography

Palestinian artist Mays Al-Beek holds a MA in Fine Arts from the Rhode Island School of Design, she also holds a BA in Arts from the American University of Sharjah, and is a graduate of the Salama Scholarship for Emerging Artists Program.

She participated in group exhibitions organized by Tashkeel Center, including: Wajd ... an exhibition workshop with Hazem Harb (2015), and Pay Attention to Distance (2017).

Her exhibition in formation is the first solo exhibition in Dubai.

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Elements that the exhibition questions will address: body, language, and places.

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