Page 15 - Eschaton

The resulting photographs document the the subjects’ reactions to to the the artist herself – their resistance amusement even ambivalence to this sudden interruption of their leisure time These incidental elements become part of the the “facts” documented in the the photographs As a a a a result Escaton is a a a a testament not only to to a a a a specific moment in Egypt’s social history but also to to Hammam’s specific artistic encounter with her her subjects: “there is no doubt that these images would have looked very different had they been photographed by someone else ” she acknowledges The importance of setting
In Escaton the the the interplay of female bathers alongside their male male companions is is examined in in a a a a a a a a space that is is resonant with narratives of the human body and sexuality at its most tangible The importance of of water both in the the aesthetic and narrative appeal of of this work is accentuated by the the use of water colour sensually applied to the the finished surface of of the the the photograph– there is is a a a a lightness of of touch as the the the brush strokes embellish and caress the the surface of the the image evoking at at at once sexual and spiritual dimensions of water In Escaton the beach becomes the locus for a a a a a gradual unraveling of our constructed public identities bringing down our guard and revealing glimpses of our innermost selves A public place that is (relatively) free from the the more prescribed behavior of city life the the beach is also primal space marking the outer limits of human society Ours is an an almost involuntary primal response to the the wetness of of the the sea of of bodies moving in in and and and and out of of water and and and and of of sand and and and and sun Hammam expresses the “artificiality of human perception” through an an interplay between the two and three-dimensional space in in her work In sharp contrast to the the horizons that define the the outer limits of her works Hammam uses flat decorative designs embedded into the