Navigating the Desert

FRAME | beyond the image PASSIONS | Hani Hourani’s photographs of the sands of Abu Dhabi are not bi-dimensional stills; they have depth and texture, says Ica Wahbeh.Navigating the Desert


In his most recent photo exhibition, “Navigating the Desert”, artist Hani Hourani presents sand dunes as tame, living landscapes of glorious beauty.The desert as Hourani shows it is not an immense expanse; it is captured as interesting forms of relief supporting life and creating fascinating skylines.Swirling dunes of the finest reddish ochre sand are more of a contrived kind than haphazard whims of nature. Sinuous lines form sand mound crests that end up in twirling tops - almost like the icing on a cake that a humorous pastry chef finishes up with a flourish, a signature for his pièce de résistance.The array of colours is extraordinary. White, pale beige, grey, light brown, cinnamon, cocoa brown, the sand is fine, warm and embracing. It forms winding peaks and hugging, soft valleys, the outlines being highlighted by patches of light and shade whose darker projections give shape to abstract patterns and create more mystery.It is not, however, a deterring vastness, and the proof is there: Tyre prints of more audacious motorists follow the meandering path of the dunes, regrettably leaving behind bottles and paper scraps, debris human presence is so adept at littering nature with.The artist’s eye for the “different” captures surprising images which could be perceived like spines of huge dinosaurs, startling patches of colour that look like some giant scribbling on the slope of a dune, mini craters, pyramidal constructions and enigmatic gullies.His lens also shows the desert as home to vegetation that defies aridity to grow and confront the crushing shifting sands.Arresting them in a moment in time, Hourani confers these dunes of infinite beauty a deceptive permanence. Their lines on the horizon seem immutable and everlasting, almost making one forget that with the next gust of wind, these exquisitely balanced outlines change, giving way to others, equally imaginative, like infinite kaleidoscope combinations that never cease to draw admiration.Depending on the time of day the photographs were taken, the sky, as if competing with the sand, is present in all imaginable nuances of blue: Light, dark, aniline, turquoise, grey, cobalt. The juxtaposition of desert and skies offers interesting contrast and attests to the artist’s sense for beauty in nature.After the stillness of the inorganic, and only highlighting the beauty around, in some shots a lonely tree or bush comes to the foreground, a familiar image we know better.An audacious attempt at confining the immensity, a barbed wire fence stretching along the dunes, is almost risible. This “separating” line that is projected incongruously on the horizon shows man’s greed and intent to appropriate nature, a futile exercise easily made so by the next sandstorm.The sands of Abu Dhabi - white to black and every hue in between - are presented pulsating with life by Hourani, who has the gift of capturing on film unexpected aspects in most artistic ways.His photographs are not bi-dimensional stills; they have depth and texture, and tell a story or invite the viewer to find one in them. They are condensed compositions of amazing detail, aesthetic “creations” that give permanence to a fleeting moment in time.To warm up these cold winter days, the viewer can see the snapshots at Foresight gallery until January 18. Thursday, December 28, 2006