Muhawwil (Transformer)

Monira Al Qadiri  |  Visual Arts  |  2012  |  Kuwait
A four-channel video installation based on Islamic figurative murals from electric power stations in Kuwait. These murals mark a transformation in religious discourse within Gulf societies: where once only calligraphic depictions of this nature were allowed, today’s pop-culture and mass-production of images have forced conservative entities to reconsider this tradition and take up a mutated technique to convey moral advice - wall paintings. This project reconstructs these paintings into animation, so as to highlight the dilemma of representation that exists between the ancient and the modern.