Friday 1 December 2006, 14.00–17.00

CANCELLED

Photographic images of North Africa, over the last century, have mapped out the modernisation of the social, political, economic and colonial/post-colonial situations of the region. With the current shifts in the region dictated by the rise in militarisation, religious extremism and urban sprawl, contemporary photographers are choosing to document the realities of daily life within this fast-transforming region. Artists Lara Baladi, Yto Barrada, Omar D and Susan Hefuna discuss their work with independent curator Rose Issa.

Tate Modern  Starr Auditorium
£8 (£6 concessions), booking required
There is a discount of £5 if you book tickets for five talks in the Global Photography Now series and a £10 discount if you book tickets for all nine talks.

CANCELLED


    

The following images and text have been submitted by Susan Hefuna in place of the cancelled discussion.

excerpt of “Reframing Otherness” by Bassam El-Baroni, Alexandria 2005

“In these photographs, that are allusions to late 19th and early 20th century orientalist daguerreotypes and the picturesque but stereotyping postcards of Lehnert and Landrock – Hefuna literally walks into the picture to intervene and disrupt its predetermined cultural signification. These somewhat hazy images feature the casually dressed Hefuna in various everyday situations such as, walking in the Nile Delta village where her father originates from, drinking water from a clay pitcher on a Cairo street and sitting in-between her paternal cousins. Despite their somber mood and their obvious autobiographical references, these photographs resist being labeled as self-portraits. Instead, they can be seen as representing the moments or lapses in time in which the artist has been able to subtlety highjack the domineering photographic documents of cultural history, armed with little except a highly developed visual language and a sense of displacement. Susan Hefuna chooses not to inform us about the presence of "the author" inside these photographs preferring to title her images with non-personal and general morphemes such as, Woman Cairo and Woman Nile Delta. In doing so, Hefuna encourages a universal reading of the image unbound by the assuming mindset that cultural specificity and the unnecessary details of ethnicity make us fall into.”

 

Susan Hefuna Aunt and Niece Nile Delta Egypt  2003 © The artist

 

Susan Hefuna Life in the Delta (installation view) 2003 © The artist

 

Susan Hefuna Woman behind mashrabiya 1997 © The artist

 

Susan Hefuna four women - four views made in Egypt (pinhole photography) 2001 © The artist

 
Having a dual heritage German/Eygptian the Susan Hefuna’s work emphasises the transitions of culture-specific codes and stereotypes, as well as the perception of women in European and Arab societies. Selected exhibitions include Regards des Photographes Arabes Contemporains GL Strand Museum, Copenhagen, 2006; Nomads of Nowadays, Lazina Centre for Contemporary Art, Gdansk, Poland, 2006; Biennale Bulgaria, 2006; 19 views, Contemporary Arab Photography Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporaneo of Seville, 2006; NETEROTOPIA Palais de Tokyo, Paris 2006; and Sharjah Biennial 2007.