Statement about art
 
WEDDING MEMORIES, 2011
Photographic series
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“Wedding Memories”  is a series of photographs with a wedding motif. The tradition is that the couple’s families arrange the wedding, where the partners meet each other for the first time. Having the face covered is a remnant of a custom whereby it was possible to reject the marriage after seeing the partner’s face. Until today’s women’s rights are limited, and there is still a strong tendency to require virginity upon marriage as a symbol of the women’s innocence. Modernizing may be progressing, but are rooted in older customs, and the work hints at these. The situation with the desert in the background can also be interpreted as the artist’s nostalgia for his home country as it modernized. Meer’s works raise the issue of how to relate to the culture and customs of Arab society that are incompatible with modernization, and can also be seen as a manifestation of the artist’s struggles engendered by the different cultures that have each become a part of his makeup.
Hassan Meer