drawing
- Museum number
- 2011,6024.1
- Description
-
Anouchian Passport Portrait Drawing Series W6 by Hajra Waheed. Nine works. Pencil and Xylene transfer on paper (2010).
- Production date
- 2010
- Dimensions
-
Height: 31 centimetres
-
Length: 24 centimetres
- Curator's comments
- In 2004, Lebanese artists Akram Zaatari and Walid Raad undertook a project with the Arab Image Foundation, called Mapping Sitting, which culminated in an exhibition of part of the archive of Middle Eastern and North African photography in Geneva (April–June), including 2975 photographs from the studio of Armenian photographer Antranik Anouchian (fl.1935–70 in Tripoli, Lebanon), ordered by physical appearance (as the subjects are unidentified).
In 2009–10, taking inspiration from Mapping Sitting, Hajra Waheed selected 198 portraits (99 men and 99 women) from the Studio Anouchian archive, and produced drawings from them. These drawings allude to the role of the anonymous individual within a collective mass of various pluralistic, Middle Eastern communities during the 20th century, when portrait photography was a popular luxury. On a personal level, the artist herself explores the role of identity and freedom (because when she grew up in Saudi Arabia, the only means towards the opportunity to travel both within and outside the country was through documents and having an ID photograph on her passport)
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 2011
- Department
- Middle East
- Registration number
- 2011,6024.1