Middle East & Africa

Karam Natour

Selfie with Pan

2016

Selfie with Pan, 2016

Humor and Law, Kick of Duality, Point of View III, Selfie with Pan, and Thinking of You are part of an ongoing series of digital drawings Karam Natour has been creating since he was studying at Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, Jerusalem. The protagonist of the vast majority of these drawings is Natour himself, naked and without facial features. They were initially created only in digital formats – the artist would perform the postures required for the drawing, document himself and then trace the figure digitally – to be posted on Facebook, often generating debates online among friends and colleagues. Consequently, the artist decided to present them printed on paper that resembles papyrus – ancient Egypt is often featured in the drawings – and after seven years he brought them together in the artist book Jester Lux, which takes the name from what he calls his “nonhuman collaborator,” who is indeed the true protagonist of all the scenes in the drawings.

Through video and digital drawing Karam Natour manifests his interest in the power of language, and specifically how translation becomes a unique vehicle for a deeper understanding of issues connected to identity, race and gender. Autobiographical, yet not directly so, truly performative, although always through the filter of the camera, the work of Karam Natour takes distinctive elements of his own self, connecting them to mythological, historical and art historical references. Through this mix, which is at times peppered with irony, at times with cynicism, the artist triggers questions that go beyond the “person” he is, generating reflections about representations of individuals and communities in Israel and in the Middle East at large but also about the figure of the (young) artist in the (often wild) field of art.

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Karam Natour Selfie with Pan

Karam Natour

Selfie with Pan