THE CITY IS STUCK TO MY SKIN: SOMETHING ELSE AT THE CITADEL
EHAB BEHAIRY, KARIM EL HAYAWAN, AMINA KADOUS, MOHAMED MAHDY, MARIA SABA, MAHMOUD TALAAT, ALI ZAARAY, FARES ZAITOON
CURATED BY FARIDA YOUSSEF
PRESENTED AT DARB1718’S SOMETHING ELSE (3RD EDITION)
CURATED BY SIMON NJAMI AND MOATAZ NASR
“How do you feel about the city?”
As a social space that encompasses us, there is a dynamic relationship between our bodies and the city. They produce and mirror one another. Often, the state of one reflects that of the other. As if the cracks on our skin were meant for its walls.
The City is Stuck to My Skin looks at the city through the trope of surface. Seven different encounters, presented by seven different photographers, peel a layer off the skin of the city. We encounter history, memory, religion, architecture and the psyche as layers. Each are presented using the skin as a trope, a texture that curiously mimics the city’s own. Bodies and city continue to produce one another.
Yet, very little traces of photography remain here. As if each artist peeled a layer of the surface of this medium to discover themselves in the city. From here comes the title of the exhibition which borrows from the French “coller à la peau”. They show us how they feel the city and what happens when it gets under one’s skin.
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