Language Is Stronger Than Light Series
Print on Paper
70 X 50 CM
2014
Al Salem's roots are founded in calligraphy, which by its own virtue is the art of giving form to signs. Upon reflection with this latest body of work, Al Salem pushes the boundaries of expression and representation by portraying forms of photographic imagery to linguistic signs.
Al Salem plays on his audience's sense of memory and imagination, by carefully selecting words that draw on one's personal notions of belonging and identity.
Al Salem's creative roots are deeply founded in his Calligraphic practice. The development of this body of work, which bridges the conceptual with the traditional, pays a marking tribute to the significance and power of the written word. Al Salem's use of language draws on the malleability of the mind in projecting one's memory of self, drawing from the past, into the present and possibilities of the future.
The selection of words is carefully considered to represent the everyday and familiar experiences that anyone can relate to, painting such imagery quite literally into words. Such a process democratizes this form of language, giving back the power of personal interpretation and visualization into his viewer's eyes and mind. .
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