SAHER NASSAR | METAPHOR

Zawyeh Gallery announces the opening of a new exhibition titled “Metaphor” at Alserkal Avenue by young Palestinian artist Saher Nassar. The exhibition consists of four series of artworks that focus on the theme of breaking metaphors and resisting rules, expectations or norms and questioning representations of establishment and authority. Nassar works with a range of materials and styles and uses a mixture of abstract paintings, collage, drawings and photographs in addition to ready made objects.

In his first exhibition, Nassar ridicules and exposes what lies beyond the surface and encourages accepting other opinions, beliefs, behaviors, different from one’s own and the rejection of domination of power and authority. In one series, he places five packs of cigarettes in the middle of five different archival images of war that took place in five different countries around the world. The message on the five packs reads: Smoking Kills in five different languages connected to the five different geographies where the photos were taken. The series stresses on two layers of dangerous threats to humanity: war and smoking.

Nevertheless, the third layer that he is trying to convey can be read between the lines; it’s the lethal combination between capitalism and politics where the politics of war paves the way for western multi national conglomerates to dominate the economies of poorer countries selling products that also kill. Nassar says that his works intend to shake the status quo and highlight the exertion of power and authority imposed upon the individuals and society at large and they meant to discuss control and domination and attempts to resist them.

“Metaphor” is organized as part of a series of exhibitions at Alserkal Avenue with the intention to encourage young Palestinian artists to produce and participate, and provide them a platform to exhibit their works in front of the wider international audience, as part of the gallery’s attempts to empower and support young emerging artists.

Courtesy of Zawyeh Gallery

Artwork caption: Saher Nassar, Untitled 1, 2021. Installation, Acylic boards, 90 x 118 cm