DUBAI: The Egyptian artist discusses his glass work, resembling a map of the Arab world, which is on display at Galleria Continua in Dubai until April 22.
Moataz Nasr is an Egyptian artist. (Supplied)
In my work, I explore socio-political issues that affect me. In addition, there are various sides to myself and my work; there’s the spiritual, the historical and the sarcastic. For example, I made a work with the McDonald’s logo, criticizing the fast-food culture imposed on us. In Arab society, we like to take two to three hours over dinner; we like to eat, laugh and chat. But there’s a new culture hanging over us, where we have to eat fast and get to work.
For a long time, I’ve seen the Arab region going through difficult and upsetting times. There is fragmentation: If you look at the lower right side of the map, we lost southern Sudan and a part of Somalia. Syria, Lebanon, Libya and Iraq are deteriorating. What more is there to say? The world and the map are changing. I feel like the whole region is under threat and it seems we can’t get out of some factors, be it religious or political, that have made life difficult.
‘Shattered Glass,’ Moataz Nasr. (Supplied)
There is a state of rupture that I expressed through shattered glass. Shattered glass: That is what we are. The idea came to me in 2015, but it was challenging. I actually made it with clay and matchsticks. I was thinking of how I could put shattered glass between two layers of smooth glass. It took us three years to get it right. With a team, we made a drawing of the map, then we made a cracked layer of glass that was placed between two layers of normal glass. We put it in the oven and it worked in the end.
It’s a hopeless case, but we’re trying to alert people. As an artist, I view my role as someone holding a magnifying glass and looking closely at things that someone passing by might miss out on. But I want them to see, watch, think about it, and try to do something. Through this work, I want people to look at our true state. We’ve lost ourselves. We are in the utmost need to be united and stand next to each other.
