December 5, 2017 - January 29, 2018
TAREK AL- GHOUSSEIN
K Files
In collaboration with the The Third Line gallery
For his first solo exhibition in Kuwait, Al-Ghoussein presents a selection of works from his K Files series. Part of a larger frame of work that documents found material from family albums, antique shops and other sources, the performative photographs feature interactions between the artist and sites of importance in an attempt to track significant places in Kuwait’s development.
Tarek Al-Ghoussein was born in Kuwait in 1962. He received his BFA (Photography) from New York University in 1985 and his MA (Photography) from the University of New Mexico in 1989. Much of Tarek’s work deals with how his identity is shaped in a context of inaccessibility and loss. His work explores the boundaries between landscape photography, self-portraiture and performance art.
Tarek is currently a Professor of Visual Arts at the NYU Abu Dhabi. His solo shows include Al Sawaber, The Third Line (2017); K Files and Sawaber Series, Nevada Museum of Art, USA (2016); K Files, The Third Line, Dubai, UAE (2014); E Series, Kalfayan Galleries, Athens, Greece (2011); A Retrospective: Works from 2003-2010, Sharjah Art Museum, Sharjah, UAE (2010).
His work has been shown in group shows including Negotiating The Future: 6th Asian Art Biennial, National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Taichung City, Taiwan (2017); The Creative Act: Performance, Process, Presence, Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, UAE (2017); Presence: Reflections on the Middle East, Metropolitan State University of Denver, Center for Visual Art, CO, USA (2017); View from Inside: Contemporary Arab
Photography, Video and Mix Media, Emirates Palace Gallery, Abu Dhabi, UAE (2015); FotoFest 2014 Biennial, The 15th International Biennial of Photography and Photo-related Art, Houston, USA (2014); How Green Was My Valley, Whitebox Art Space, New York, USA (2014); Lost in Landscape, Museo di Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Trento e Rovereto, Italy (2014); Photoquai, Photography Biennial, Paris, France (2013); The Blue Route, Villa Empain, Brussels, Belgium (2013); From Palestine with Hope, Art Space, London, UK (2013); Safar/Voyage, Museum of Anthropology, Vancouver, Canada (2013); Mind and Body, DUCTAC, Dubai, UAE (2013) and The National Pavilion of Kuwait 55th Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy (2013).
Tarek’s works are collected by museums worldwide including the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, Victoria & Albert Museum and the British Museum in London, the Royal Museum of Photography in Copenhagen, Mori Art Museum in Tokyo, the Arab museum of Modern Art in Doha, the Sharjah Biennial Collection and the Abu Dhabi Music and Arts Foundation in the UAE.