AM I MY LOVER’S KEEPER?
The story of Cain and Abel. The brothers who made sacrifices to God, but God favoured Abel’s one. This story that is argued to have taken place in the beginning of human existence on Earth, and which events ended with Cain killing his brother, initiating the first trauma, the first crime in human history.
Taking this story as a starting point for a study from the perspective of Carl Jung and Rumi to understand The Self, aiming to build a comprehensible artistic plot approaching the Quranic narrative -and its including of a crow- subjectively, deconstruct it, and refocus the composition to generate a sentimental scenario reflecting our modern era.
Sculpture (cement, metal, found crow feathers). S 26 x 23 x 60 cm. Y 2022.
THE MIRACLE OF THE UNCONSCIOUS
What people take to be normal and fixed facts about the world are actually determined by social norms, culture and social interaction. This social construction enforces ideas about us and our identities.
Beauty ideals in relation to gender and their consequences are not immutable, natural, or unavoidable.
Do we migrate from ourselves to reach our “safe space” is that safe space our choice or is it passed to us from our ancestors to save the “heritage” that they left?
Installation & a single-channel video with sound (1’ 40”). Y 2021
The work was exhibited as part of UNCLAIMED IDENTITIES group exhibition at Haus der Statistik 2021
COULD YOU RESIST?
Emphasizing the act of resistance within oneself against cultural traditions and standards.
The artwork is made from a black box with a mirror on the inside and an analog photograph of the artist covering its open side. In the photograph, the hand is cut out and folded backward, leaving a hole through which one can look inside the box and see what’s reflected in the mirror. The piece forces the audience to engage with the object and play with their perspective.
Sculpture . S 15 X 10,5 X 15 cm . Y 2020
LET’S NOT TALK ABOUT IT!
Erotica series(Raw YInMn blue on hard paper). S: 100 x 70 cm. Y 2020
INNER-CHILD PANDEMIC
During the pandemic, the lockdown installed new regulations regarding meetings within one’s own home that prioritized family members. But then I started to think, what about those without biological families? What does family mean? What is the blood/name bond? Can we consider those who guard our inner memories, feelings, history and traumas as family? Carving on wood like carving memories.
Wood Carving Relief . Y 2020
SOB-HIY-EH
[Sob-hiy-eh] is a word used to describe an eventful morning gathering to drink Middle Eastern coffee “and more.” Traditionally, visitors bring the coffee pot with them.
[Sob-hiy-eh] is a colloquial phrase used only in spoken form, mostly known among women and queers (no- children policy) as a form of socializing. It is a highlight of the day due to the amount of news and gossip which is exchanged during the morning meeting.
[Sob-hiy-eh] was a therapeutic convention to release the tension that one had accumulated from constantly facing reality. Our routines before the pandemic included these rhythmic morning meetings. We all needed a getaway, and [Sob-hiy-eh] was one.
Using augmented reality, [Sob-hiy-eh] is possible in the lockdown despite the strict rules, as it transforms the 2D poster into a moving poster in a real-time environment using the ARTIVIVE AR-platform (augmented reality).
Augmented reality opens a new understanding of the 21st century; what kind of impact will it have on societies across the globe? Are we slowly moving into living in the “cloud?” Is our behavior turning artificial?
Digital Collage . Print . S 59.4 X 42.0 cm . Y 2020
Animated Augmented Reality on ARTIVIVE.app Platform
The work was exhibited at THROUGH SOLIDARITY WE SURVIVE artistic campaign Berlin, Germany and Oslo World Festival, Norway.
PLAY IT, QUEER!
Play it queer is a simulation of a quixotic Arabic Muslim queer world, imagining new ways of being, thinking, and articulating desires and longing, love and struggle. The piece looks at the violence that is imposed on ways of being queer in the Middle Eastern world parallel to the Western present we live in.
It is a condemnation of those who forbid queerness and see it as a crime and a sin in the Arab Muslim world. It revolves around the figure of the Makkah imam ‘Abdul Rahman Al-Sudais, highlighting his effect on the construction of racial, religious, gender and sexual differences in the West.
Digital illustration . Print . S 59.4 X 42.0 cm . Y 2019
The work was exhibited at Rundgang der UDK Berlin as part of HE(A)R(E) THE ATTACHMENT exhibition, Berlin 2019.
THE LIGHTEST SHADE OF AFLATOON
Life is too short to sit around feeling sorry for being the person we actually aren’t. I’ve slowly found my mentors along my journey. These people inspire me to live by my own expectations and to never mold myself around what others want.
When we realize our own worth, we will look back and realize the path that took us there was not an easy one at all.
This is why I can vouch for the fact that I wasn’t always this way. I only discovered my light when it was the darkest it could ever have been.
Multimedia: Sound & Acrylic on canvas. S: TRIPTYCH 200 × 300 cm. Y 2017
The work was exhibited at Schwules Museum (Gay Museum) Berlin,2017.
michael(a) Daoud 