DUBAI: Palestinian artist Saher Nassar is being highlighted at Dubai’s Zawyeh Gallery in an exhibition titled “Metaphor” that runs until Nov. 6.
Read on for a few highlights from the show.
‘Network’
“Metaphor” is the first solo exhibition for young Palestinian artist Saher Nassar. It comprises four series of works that, the press release says, focus on “breaking metaphors and resisting rules, expectations or norms and questioning representations of establishment and authority.” His “Network” series contains actual blood samples — a symbol of individuality that calls for resistance to tribalism and ethnocentrism.
‘Network’ by Saher Nasser. (Supplied)
‘Smoking Kills’
A series of five images of war, on which Nassar has placed five cigarette packs, each containing the familiar titular health warning in the language of the country from which the image comes. Ostensibly, the series highlights twin dangers to humanity, but it also shows the “lethal combination of capitalism” and “the politics of war” that “paves the way for Western multinationals to dominate the economies of poorer countries, selling products that also kill.”
‘Smoking Kills’ by Saher Nasser. (Supplied)
‘The State’
This piece is from Nassar’s series of mixed-media works “Kill The Metaphor,” which explores “the myth of power and the power of myth.” Metaphors, he believes, can help us understand things better, but “could be deceitful and prevent us from seeing the truth” too. The series is intended to encourage tolerance of “other opinions, beliefs, behaviours, different to one’s own, and the rejection of the domination of the power of authority.”
‘The State’ by Saher Nasser. (Supplied)