Ayyam Gallery Beirut is pleased to present The Naked Truth, the solo exhibition of Ammar Abd Rabbo. Debuting a new body of work by the artist, the exhibition features mixed-media photographic works that explore the concept of censorship in the Arab world as it is applied to the naked body and affirmations of sexuality. Invoking the blacked-out imagery of print, billboard, and other forms of censored media, Abd Rabbo combines original photographs with overlaid text and painted areas that conceal the ‘risqué’ details of nude portraits.
The series contains photographs that were taken by Abd Rabbo over a several year period. Some of the included photographs resulted from his work as a photojournalist while others were taken with various models during individual sessions. Inspired by an advertisement for Lucas Cranach’s The Three Graces (1531) that was later censored according to regulated codes of ‘decency’ when reproduced in an Arab publication, Abd Rabbo paints over the ‘offending’ parts of his figures, the basic anatomical details that identify his or her sex. Part of the motivation for the series came from the artist’s frustration with the double standards of this form of restriction in regional visual culture. As an active photojournalist who has worked with international photo agencies and major media outlets, he encounters a steady stream of documented violence, the graphic nature of which is rarely limited by publications or state authorities.
