Emirates Fine Art Society annual exhibition up and running

My Phone Diary (2014) by Ebtisam Abdulaziz. Courtesy: EFAS

The 32nd annual exhibition of the Emirates Fine Art Society got underway last week.

With an expertly curated selection by Nasir Nasrallah, the theme for the show - the longest running art exhibition in the country - was Stories Yet To Be Told.

"This is a question that implies many answers," explains Nasrallah. "The narrative is an old method used by the individual to convey information and facts in the form of pictures and signs. Then, he used words to put forward his ideas, opinions and theories. Now, the majority of people use all of these techniques together to tell the story that revolves in their minds."

Using a variety of different media, some of the best artist in the country presented totally new works.

The piece pictured here is from conceptual artist Ebtisam Abdulaziz. Titled My Phone Diary, she tells the story of her daily phone calls made over 40 days recorded in the form of telephone numbers which are presented in a sub-abstract form.

"During that time, I kept a running record of all the phone calls that I answered on a daily basis. The paintings are done by converting the individual numbers of each phone number into geometric blocks in which each number is represented by the same number of block as well as having its own colour."

The numbers are placed in an chronological order, depending on the time of the call and the date and the viewer is invited to read the artwork by witnessing the cubical map of translated numbers.

"In so doing they become the main story teller and, since there is no dialogue, I hope to create an air of mystery as there are no words displayed in the phone calls," she explains.

The other element was audio, where a keyboard of numbers represented musical notes that allowed the audience could experience more than one side of the story.

* The 32nd Emirates Fine Art Society Exhibition is being held in collaboration with the Directorate of Arts at the Department of Culture and Information in Sharjah, Barjeel Art Foundation and the Sharjah Museums Department.