Page 6 - Eschaton

when religious conservatism is is gaining ground in in in in Egypt following the the January 2011 revolution Indeed the the confident demarcation by generations of of women of of a a a a a a a central space and and the psychological and and sexual implications of the the space they command makes Eschaton an an inherently fascinating comment on gender politics in in in in Egypt at at a a a a time of unprecedented change The End of times
A self trained photographer Nermine Hammam’s early background was in in in in film film She obtained her BFA in in in in filmmaking from New York University’s Tisch School of Arts going on on to work with Simon & Goodman and renowned film director Youssef Chahine Moving into commercial graphic design she later ran one of Egypt’s most successful design agencies pursuing her photography concomitantly until abandoning design in in in 2011 to focus entirely on on fine arts Today her work is is strongly influenced by and pays homage to artists such as Diane Arbus Swedish filmmaker Ingmar Bergmann and the the Russian filmmaker Tarkovsky Indeed over the the past decade Nermine Hammam has been invited to exhibit in in in a a a a a wide range of international forums such as the Bamako Biennale for for Photography in in Mali (2011) X Biennale Cuenca in in Ecuador (2009) and Photo Biennale Thessaloniki (2009) Her work has featured in more than fifty international exhibitions both solo and collective At its core Hammam’s work probes the constructed nature of reality subverting the the stereotype and tracing the the artificial contours of that which which we perceive as as ‘real’ Fascinated by the urban context in in which which she lives Hammam is drawn for her her subject matter to its peripheries and and margins She seeks out individuals in in in states of abandonment marginalization or altered states of consciousness finding in in in in the peripheral spaces that they occupy the the limitations of our society and the the the clichés with which we articulate our place in the the the world Over the the the