The Journey

In 2022, the Ras Al Khaimah Fine Arts Festival has as its theme “The Journey”.  As it is the 10th anniversary of the festival, which takes place as the UAE celebrates its 50th anniversary, this annual celebration of contemporary art reflects on the journey of the festival, Ras Al Khaimah and the United Arab Emirates, and encourages us to consider our relationship with space, time, and the self.   

The festival, which began in 2013 as a local festival, transitioned in 2019 to an international festival.  In 2019 it also became an outdoor festival when it moved to Al Jazirah Al Hamra Heritage Village.

I was privileged to visit Al Jazirah Al Hamra in February 2016 and saw archaeologists at work. The old fort was still in the process of being restored. The experience was amazing and I wrote about it at the time.

I visited the Ras Al Khaimah Arts Fine Arts Festival in its original format, but in 2019 we moved to Canada before I had experienced it in its new format and location. 

Following it online the wish to exhibit there grew, and when I saw the theme of this year’s festival, “The Journey”, I knew the time had come in my life’s journey to make the effort to realize this dream.  

My iPhoneart forms part of the up and coming Mobile Art Movement. The figures in my iPhone artworks, although rooted, appear to be moving in a dimension beyond normal space and time. We are invited to enter this space filled with mystery and potential to discover the journey waiting to unfold. This I felt, was most fitting for the theme.  

This theme of rootedness and movement is in part inspired by the stories of Bedouins. Journeying through the desert they were on the move, but when they stopped, their “centre of now” became the place they were at. 

My process involves an exploration of time, space, interconnectedness, rootedness and movement - parameters i term “here2here”. This too I felt was in keeping with the theme.  

The decision was made! As I pondered upon which works to submit, I was inspired to include works which depicted another theme that flows through my work - the traditional dress of the UAE and my observations of how the abaya, worn by women, changed in the years I lived in the region. A keen observer of culture, I noticed that the fashions women wore started to change over time and that the black abaya slowly began to be replaced by ones incorporating more color.  The abaya has made its own journey and has its own story to tell.  

The abaya is an outer cloak, the public dress, worn by women in many areas of the Arab world.  

In earlier times it was a large article of clothing worn draped off the head.  As time passed and this form became impractical for women as they went about their daily lives with all the demands of modern living, this traditional garment  evolved into a longer jacket, cape like form, which was more functional. These garments were originally black, and that was the format and color I encountered upon my arrival in the UAE in 2010. 

At this point in time many women wear the abaya but in a variety of colors, textures and textiles. As the UAE welcomed many different cultures into its midst, women found themselves in globalized settings. They have adapted their clothing style and their fashion to not only reflect their traditions at the same time as their individuality, but also to be functional for use in the era they find themselves living in.  

More detailed information about the evolution of the abaya can be found here,  courtesy of The Zay Initiative, founded by Dr Reem El Mutwalli.

I am very honoured and proud to report that two of my works were selected and are being exhibited in the desert in large format at this year’s Ras Al Khaimah Fine Arts Festival, which will be held from February 4 - March 31, 2022.  

 Change ©Linda Hollier

The woman in the artwork “Change” was one of the first women I saw wearing an abaya that was mainly white.  She certainly seemed to be moving in a different dimension to most others around her. As she confidently journeyed into the future she was certainly inviting others to follow her on this journey.

 Dissolving ©Linda Hollier

The stripes in the abaya in this artwork are moving but the woman appears to be confidently rooted.  Tradition and the future are apparent at the same time. 

This work was also projected onto 9 metre and 13 metre screens at The Equinox Experience in Santo Stefano Al Ponte in Florence in 2017.  That this piece journeys from a deconsecrated church in Italy to the desert of the UAE is in itself amazing to me.  

Both works were created entirely on my iPhone before being printed onto recycled wood. 

I intuitively captured the women in these works as I went about my day. The recycled wood reminds us of the importance of being grounded whilst the use of modern technology hints at movement.  The media used as well as the women in the work and what they are wearing remind us of the importance of our history as we journey into the future.   

Interviewed by Mario Uboldi Jewellery Art

In February 2017 I collaborated with and was interviewed by André Meyerhans of Mario Uboldi Jewellery Art. What follows is the interview which at the time was published on various social media platforms.

(Artwork photographed: Yellow Notice

Featured jewelry: Mashrabiya Collar)

What inspired you to create these artworks?

Shortly after I arrived in the Middle East I started a website “here2here” which promotes mindfulness as well as investigates cyberspace - the mindspace we find ourselves in when using technology to communicate.  “here2here” hints at mobility but also suggests that there is actually nowhere to go and that all is already as it should be. 

At about the same time, Downtown Dubai, where we were living at the time, launched a campaign entitled “The Centre of Now” to highlight the area as a hub of a global cultural movement. 

I have always been inspired by stories of bedouins, nomads who lived in the deserts. They embodied wandering and mobility and an awareness of the interconnectedness of life. For them immediate movement was always a probability and they knew what it was to have a centre which was always changing as they wandered through the borderless desert.

This is a century of mobility.  Many people today are global citizens on the move with means of connectivity and communication that boggle the mind.

Believing that we need to seek in newfound ways, as global nomads, the centre of now - the heart of the present moment - that the Bedouins were very aware of, I began to explore the concept of rootedness and movement occurring simultaneously and was inspired to depict this using the modern technology at hand; in my case, my iPhone. My love of photography and art had merged with my interest in technology.  

At first, I began to edit photos I had taken of architecture in Dubai. 

Shortly after I began experimenting with the app Slowshutter, I visited Istanbul and attended a Whirling Dervishes Sema Ceremony. This inspired me to try to figure out new ways of portraying the whole concept of rootedness and movement occurring simultaneously, through my artworks. 

I began to photograph people, focusing on the energy I sensed around them. The individuals in my artworks appear to be rooted in a moment but at the same time appear to be moving in an other-worldly realm which is beyond space and time.

 

(Artwork photographed: Mystery

Featured jewelry: Dot Bracelet)

What message would you like to give to the viewer / What feeling would you like to evoke in the observer?

I am of the opinion that true art takes the viewer beyond themselves and is so much more than mere technique. 

I find that most people are emotionally drawn to my artworks.  Perhaps this is because the thinking brain is initially confused, as viewers often find it hard to believe that the piece they are looking at has been created on an iPhone.

The artworks depict a space filled with mystery and potential and the viewer is invited to enter this space to discover the story waiting to unfold. This story differs from individual to individual.

 

(Artwork photographed: Trinity

Featured jewelry: Dot Bracelet)

You have a unique technique, please explain?

Using my iPhone, I intuitively capture images using slow-shutter photography.  I then transform these, blending and painting on my iPhone screen, achieving this with the aid of various apps. Much of my work is printed onto recycled wood which adds further texture, thereby making each piece unique.  The combination of iPhone artistry and recycled wood is a gentle reminder of the importance of remaining grounded even while enjoying the benefits of modern technology.  

 

(Artwork photographed: Releasing

Featured jewelry: Goldflake Collier)

Your logo is Arabic, your nationality is South African - please explain your motivation behind this and what impact it has on your audience?

As I explore many aspects of here2here on my website - both through the written word and through my artworks - my intention is to promote a shared vision of diversity within unity. 

A lover of culture, I find myself at this point in time in a region inhabited by so many different cultures, and this excites me.  I am born South African but am currently living in the Middle East.  My logo, which has my name written in English and Arabic, is I believe, a witness to both this and to my vision of diversity within unity. It fascinates viewers and evokes discussion. It raises the question “where is home?”, links back to the ideas surrounding ‘the centre of now”, and helps us all remember that we have more similarities than we have differences. 

 

(Artwork photographed: Direction)

You seem to have a mystic feel to your work - these here but also your earlier, more abstract and architectural ones - can you say something about it?

I grew up an avid reader and am curious by nature. My reading included much spiritual writing in many traditions. 

When I am out photographing I need to be very much in the moment. My photography flows out of my mindfulness practice but in a sense has become a practice itself. 

I am honored that you say my works have a mystic feel to them.

 

(Artwork photographed: Heart)

As mentioned, your earlier work goes more abstract with creating spaces - can you share your journey - why you went there?

I am a lover of architecture. When I first arrived in the Middle East I began photographing and posting on Instagram the architecture found in Dubai. 

Interested in exploring the architecture of cyberspace, I began experimenting with various apps to create a series I called “Digital Archways”.   Later, in an attempt to express visually the experience of cyberspace using the very tools found there, I edited photos of mainly Dubai architecture to create the series entitled “Corridors of Cyberspace”.  Some of these earlier works are currently being exhibited in Venice in an exhibition called “Future Landscapes”.  

When creating them, it was also my wish that they would be a reminder of the importance of our own inner landscapes and encourage exploration of them.  

 

(Artwork photographed: Trinity)

…. and where are you heading from here … can you share your intentions- even if they are very vague?

My #interact2connect series printed onto Ethiopian prayer shawls is bringing interesting connections. 

At home and on my travels, I have been meeting many interesting artists. Further collaborations are certainly possible. 

I have recently incorporated augmented reality into some of my artworks and am eager to explore 3D printing.

I continue to be open to what wants to flow into being.   

(Artwork photographed: Noor)

Why did you look for a collaboration like this …. and why jewelry?

I have wanted to be part of a collaborative project for some time now.  There was no special reason I chose jewelry. While away in Thailand on a fasting retreat I woke up one morning with the thought “Ask André if his jewelry could be photographed with your art”.  Before I could think too much about it and perhaps hesitate, I acted upon it. André said yes and this collaboration was set into motion. 

 

You have deformed photos that depict jewelry integrated into your paintings - please share your thoughts on this intervention.

In Japanese calligraphy there is a symbol called an ensō. It means circle and is often referred to as an “expression of the moment”. As a form of spiritual practice, many artists practice drawing an ensō daily.  I often wondered if it is possible to practice this in photographic form, and for a period of time began incorporating the circle in my edits with this in mind. 

André photographed the jewelry on my artworks but thought the resulting images needed more depth and a stronger story line. When I intuitively worked with his photographs, the circle returned.

His jewelry is certainly an expression of the culture and surroundings he finds himself in and I believe this very fact adds to its beauty.  

 

Great collaboration with artist Linda Hollier where stories are told and retold - like in “Chinese Whisper” - and new things evolve. Enjoy!

(Featured jewelry: Mashrabiya ring)

A famous Swiss Author, Friedrich Dürrenmatt, wrote a book called: The Assignment - or - On the Observing of the Observer of the Observers. Similar to what is suggested in the subtitle, artist Linda Hollier and our team present to you the above work which is a creation of a creation of a creation. This alternating, overwriting approach frees unseen elements and bring them to attention - similar to in the book by Dürrenmatt. Enjoy!

Related articles:

Collaboration with Mario Uboldi Jewellery

Marroni Caldi (Roasted Chestnuts)

As I posted my artwork "Interconnected" on Instagram, the thought crossed my mind to contact @verbonnet and ask him to write an accompanying story. Stephen Paré and I have been friends on Instagram for many years now, and our discussions have, I believe, been mutually inspiring.  Mobile art is only one of Stephen's many talents, and I am delighted that he agreed to my request. What follows is the result of our collaboration.   

Marroni Caldi

(Roasted Chestnuts)

I’ve had I guess two mystical experiences in my life. I am not going to try to explain to you what I mean by that - anyway, I’m pretty sure that I can’t. Neither of them lasted more than a couple of minutes, although I’m really not too sure – otherwise, they were completely different. The first one took place in 2009. If I ever figure out how to talk about it, I will. 

The second one happened the day before Christmas, about a month ago. 

We’re not particularly rich but we’ve got a talent (by which I mean my wife has) for being invited into beautiful homes as guests. Christine does trading online and I’m writing a novel so we might as well be anywhere; we took an extended vacation last year, working our way from the Arctic Circle in Norway at Summer Solstice south to Italy and finally Athens, where I’m writing this.

We had Thanksgiving in Lyon (duck instead of turkey, petits pois instead of green beans) and then three weeks of grey weather in Geneva with an affectionate elderly couple who were early to bed; I finished a chapter and then some, gazing out at the lake, feeling excitement and accomplishment despite a head cold that had me sleep a lot. 

And then on to Rome for Christmas, to see the Pope in the basilica, the shepherds at Santa Maria in Aracoeli, and this year’s weird and controversial crêche, which I find ugly but which I’m defending anyway because it’s under attack by the right-wing self-appointed guardians of our culture.  

Christine’s uncle has an apartment in the San Saba district, and he was lending it to us for twelve days while he was ‘in Italy’, by which he means literally anywhere away from Mamma Roma, including New York. For me, too, Rome is the center of something both momentous and familiar; but it is as though I’d discovered I had a different birth mother at age 31 - there’s no regret and no rewinding, not even the wish to rewind - only wonder and whatever heightened moments you can find to spend together while your lives continue on in their settled course. 

The first night I was in bed early and slept immediately, only waking at 9, bedsheets soaked with sweat, the way you do when the illness leaves you. I felt good again. Christine was long gone so I set off walking toward the Pantheon, thinking of cappuccino. 

There’s a piazza in front of Santa Sabina, and as I approached it I could see a street vendor with a chestnut roaster (why are they always men?). After a few steps I could smell the sweet aroma and decided to get some.

That's when it happened.  

"Interconnected" ©Linda Hollier

As I looked toward him I saw another figure, also walking toward him from my direction. It was a bearded man, young, congenitally deformed, with an odd spiraling, laborious, start-and-stop sort of walk, supported by two sticks. The chestnut vendor was turned the other way, talking vividly with someone, a customer, gesticulating as he did with that tool they use to pierce the shells.

I’ve always been interested in the ways that people match their postures and gestures as they talk; there’s a dance that goes on. I was watching the chestnut vendor ‘leading’ as his customer nodded and tilted his head and turned slightly in response to each of the extravagant gestures. Then I noticed something else: the bearded man with the sticks was ‘leading’ the vendor. It was unmistakable. He would pause, and the vendor would pause; he would start up his exaggerated spiraling movement, and then the vendor would gesticulate. But the vendor couldn’t see him! His back was turned.

I was looking, observing, trying to sort all of this out, when I saw something impossible. That crippled fellow, with his stopping and effortful starting, was leading the wind that moved the trees in the little park behind him. The trees were following him, starting and stopping with him. 

An old Fiat came along, and stopped in the street when the man stopped, moving along again when he did, its clutch jerking with his laboring walk.

He stopped, and I sneezed. He moved, and stopped again, and I sneezed again.

I must have come to a halt as I watched all of this, for it was only after the crippled man had disappeared into the park that I realized I was just standing there. The chestnut vendor was looking at me curiously. I sneezed again, roused myself, walked up and got some chestnuts from him. I will never forget the deep compassion I felt for him - well, it was love. That’s the real word, isn’t it. We had taken part in an extraordinary moment together, however unconscious of it he might have been, however ordinary it might have seemed. 

As he handed me the paper cornetto of nuts, time was slowed, the elegant turn of his hand and the crinkle of paper and his mischievous amused eyebrows arching as I grasped the bag - all a slow inevitable unfolding, an orchestral music whose every sound of every instrument I could hear.

I was about to start crying so I hurried off with my nuts and turned down the pedestrian street, tears streaming down my face in the Roman sun and north wind, appetite gone, but every twenty feet stopping, smelling the chestnuts, filling myself with the odor over and over, receiving a blessing, the grace of an ordinary day. I left them on the fountain in front of the Pantheon as a kind of offering.

---oOo---

After writing the story, Stephen let me know that he was writing music for it as well. Listen to Stephen's reading of "Marroni Caldi" set to the music he has composed to accompany it.

lindahollier · Marroni Caldi

The Equinox Experience

The Equinox Experience, took place on 12 March 2017, in Santo Stefano Al Ponte in Florence, Italy.  A magical, immersive experience conceived by Andrea Bigiarini of The New Era Museum, it took place on the night of the full moon. 

Immersed into giant size projections accompanied by the live music of Marco Testoni, the audience was invited to enter into the visions of talented artists of the Mobile Photography movement. 

Twenty selected works were also exhibited in the cloister of the deconsecrated church of Santo Stefano Al Ponte.

My artwork “Dissolving” was part of The Equinox Experience exhibition - “Balancing The Opposites With Mobile Art” - and I was very grateful to be able to attend the vernissage as well as the amazing immersive experience.  

I am including here a wonderful youtube video about the evening, followed by a transcript in English done by Elizabeth Genovesi. 

Marco Testoni:

The instruments I played are called Handpan. They are percussion instruments which emit notes allowing one to compose with these wonderful instruments. Their roots came from far away: from the Caribbean the steel drum, that they make from metal barrels. Instead these Handpans are a derivation from Europe, being a bit richer, with more harmony, with more sound, these are the instruments.

Roberto Fiorini:

The Equinox Experience is absolutely in sync with that of the mission of Cross Media. Cross Media is the producer and distributer of The Klimt Experience. From the name of the firm, chosen by our president Federico Dalgas, one can presume, that we believe in the mixing of various forms of art and communication, as we believe that man is disposed to the traditional and vice versa. Both march in one direction which is that of the future.

Andrea Bigiarini:

A perfect mix between cinema, television and museum. There isn’t that distance between art and audience, which is usually present in museums. So this new form was found for doing shows for photography. It is the only mode one has to see things in detail.

Marco Testoni:

I personally work in cinema and television and create music for these images. I can’t imagine music without images behind it.

I think that video mapping in a particular mode can revolutionize the relationship between music and images because there is the possibility to see the image, spacialized, that enwraps, enfolds you. Awhile ago I spoke with Peter Greenway, the English director and he said the future of cinema is in the possibility to see not only from the central seat of the cinema but to have it all around you, that which engages the audience in 360 degrees of the image. Video mapping is perfect in this sense. It seems to me the future is this. 

After all one sees the success they have had with projects like the Klimt Experience and the Equinox Experience.

Collaboration with Mario Uboldi Jewellery Art

André Meyerhans, the founder and designer of MARIO UBOLDI Jewellery Art, is an award-winning architect who has been named as one of the most influential architects in the MENA region by Middle Eastern Architect magazine.  He is also an artist whose work and installations are part of public and private collections in Europe, the Middle East and Asia. André’s creations blur traditional boundaries between art, architecture and design. 

I have recently had the privilege to work on a collaboration with André which has allowed his jewellery and my iPhoneart on recycled wood collected from building sites, to enter into a dialogue with each other.

 

Our collaboration is currently being shared via social media where you can view both images and an interview André conducted with me. 

The collaboration is evolving and you are invited to be part of it by checking into its story on a regular basis. 

You can follow the collaboration via any of the following links:

Mario Uboldi Jewellery Art on Facebook

Linda Hollier on Facebook

Mario Uboldi Jewellery Art on Instagram

Linda Hollier on Instagram

The dialogue between our two art forms is opening new vistas and I suspect that there is still much more waiting to be visually spoken.

In a previous blog I wrote about the type of listening I believe we need to cultivate in cyberspace, whether it be to visual, aural or textual images. 

My eyes and ears are listening! 

Related article:

Interviewed by Mario Uboldi Jewellery Art