What is art without a message?
As long as I can
remember I have been a woman and artist. Enraptured by techniques, I
am a photographer by trade (studied in Belgium) and took courses in
medieval techniques (in Portugal). I was born in The Netherlands,
lived in various countries around the world and since October 2017
indefinitely in Saudi Arabia.
Double Dutch:
What
defines 'gender'? Gender is defined by cultural values, traditions
and customs, of which some might be marked by geographical
boundaries, though not restricted and might wander to other parts of
the world, over time.
As
for some countries in the world, the government of the Kingdom of The
Netherlands has recently implemented that it will no longer
unnecessarily register if a person is a man or a woman, in the same
way that one also does not have to register one's religion, skin
colour, or intellect. Dutch officials are not to ask for the gender
if it is not strictly necessary such as for passports, for the time
being.
The establishment of
The Netherlands independence in 1648 set off a flourishing epoch for
painting. A distinctive feature of this 'Dutch Golden Age' was the
'genre painting' of which portraits proliferated and were new in
Western painting.
At the time ruffs,
crimped or pleated, wide and full, were the fashion by both men and
women. Their placement around the neck affected posture, forcing the
wearer to keep their chin up and assume a proud and haughty pose:
they were a potent symbol of status and wealth.
e.g. 1634, Rembrandt
van Rijn, Portrait of Aechje Claesdr
'Double Dutch' is a
photography series portraying people wearing ruffs, a string of
sanitary pads which are a symbol of fertility, throttled around their
necks.
'Al Johara’s
photographs take us back centuries, her images which focus on the
expressions and features of a group of young people and successfully
showcase her creative ingenuity. Specifically, Al Johara is able to
capture the essence of her subjects and their gazes which force us to
consider the stories behind their eyes, the stories that recount,
complain, love, adulate, titillate and whisper.
Her photos that
focus on the gaze of young people often engage the concept of
biological sex, that which is not chosen but accompanies us from
birth to death.
Once confronted with
these images, we are haunted by the questions of their internal
conflict which Al Johara successfully communicates, from their hearts
to ours, through their eyes and her work.' (Amal Souror)
'Double Dutch' means
in British English 'a language that is impossible to understand'; in
American English it means a jumping game with two skipping ropes held
on its ends by two persons, swung in synchronised fashion for two or
more to jump over.
Process and Methods:
'Noise' in digital
photography refers to visual distortion that photographers try to
avoid at any price. 'Noise' is a random variation of image density
and is defined as aberrant pixels, that is, pixels are not
representing the colour and exposure correctly and remain visible
with a grainy appearance. Including 'noise', is not the modus
operandi of this time.
Rembrandt van
Rijn's, a Golden Age painter, most obvious aspect of his style is
that the brush strokes are broader and remain visible on the canvas,
which was also not the modus operandi of his time..
The images are dye
and pigment ink-printed on glossy paper that enhances the effect of
craquelure, which gives the photographic images an allure of
antiquity.
