Ayyam Gallery Dubai (DIFC) is pleased to present Family Portrait, the solo exhibition of Syrian artist Mohannad Orabi. In his latest body of work, Orabi explores the psychology of memory, and how this mental process shapes one’s perception of formative experiences. Addressing the subject of social relations and how children negotiate a sense of self while developing an understanding of the world around them, Orabi builds on the previous themes of his work. At the same time, the artist’s recent paintings revisit the semiotics of images: how pictures are constructed with forms and concepts, resulting in a system of signs. Orabi has investigated the signified meaning of popular imagery since 2012.
Shortly after relocating from Damascus to Cairo due to the intensification of the Syrian conflict, Orabi shifted the focus of his paintings from portraits describing familial bonds to compositions examining the everyday media that are now integral to social interaction. Displaced from Syria and separated from his family and friends, Orabi began to read the experiences of his compatriots through their social media presence and noticed that an informal archive of images registering the human side of the conflict had formed. Family Portrait invokes the black and white format of old photographs with a limited palette and the figuration of formal portraiture.