Export room

Translation: Munther Ayashi Society works on rationalizing the image, and on calming the madness that constantly threatens to explode in the face of those who look at it. Therefore, there are two means at its disposal. The first is to make photography an art. And this was only possible because there is no mad art. From here, the photographer insists on competing with the artist, by submitting to the eloquence of the painting, and to its refined way of presentation. Photography can indeed be an art. That is when it contains no madness, when its core is forgotten, and ultimately when its essence does not influence us. As for the other means of rationalizing the image, it lies in its generalization, its collection, and making it familiar to the point that no image can stand before it to distinguish itself, to emphasize its uniqueness, its scandal, and its madness. And this is what happens in our society, where the image crushes all other images with its dominance. Neither carvings nor pictorial drawings have any significance except when they are an enthralled (and captivating) submission to the photographic model. Someone told me in front of customers at a café: “Look at their despair. Images nowadays are more alive than people.” Perhaps this is one of the signs of this world’s upheaval. We live according to a widespread upheaval.