honorable mention
Adel Ashkanani kuwait
title
(untitled)
With the world around us changing, my family found solitude in the unmatched comfort this space gave us. However, over the years this second home has been neglected and slowly deteriorating as we all have indulged and drifted into ourselves. Today this place has remained for nostalgic feelings and to remind us of what once was.
The purpose of my work is to create a makeshift person who resembles a distant version of a relative, an entity from another world emerging from the sea, and revisiting the broken fragments of a home away from home. These images reflect the absence of a life that was once the reality of my family, the daydreaming that came along with this space have now become fleeting memories that have
been left behind in the form of broken-down furniture, decaying walls and a crumbling infrastructure.
Nowadays our government takes for granted our heritage and the culture that’s found in our buildings in favor for the new and shiny. Very much in the same ways in which my space has been neglected until it will eventually die out and will sooner or later be replaced with something new.
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entry description
I created this body of work as an homage to a dear place that’s been in my family for generations. Since the 1950s this place has been an escape for my grandparents, their children, and eventually grandchildren from the hardships of everyday life. Back then the area surrounding this place was mainly desert but over the years it has turned into a city with shopping malls, residential towers, and overcrowded public spaces.With the world around us changing, my family found solitude in the unmatched comfort this space gave us. However, over the years this second home has been neglected and slowly deteriorating as we all have indulged and drifted into ourselves. Today this place has remained for nostalgic feelings and to remind us of what once was.
The purpose of my work is to create a makeshift person who resembles a distant version of a relative, an entity from another world emerging from the sea, and revisiting the broken fragments of a home away from home. These images reflect the absence of a life that was once the reality of my family, the daydreaming that came along with this space have now become fleeting memories that have
been left behind in the form of broken-down furniture, decaying walls and a crumbling infrastructure.
Nowadays our government takes for granted our heritage and the culture that’s found in our buildings in favor for the new and shiny. Very much in the same ways in which my space has been neglected until it will eventually die out and will sooner or later be replaced with something new.
about the photographer
Adel Ashkanani is a Kuwaiti based artist who works with different mediums. From music to photography and film, he portrays a raw and blue perspective within Kuwaiti society. By dissecting and challenging tradition, his work entails a dark yet whimsical part of his world. He is currently working in the stone industry designing pieces from marble.back to gallery