Intro

Hello all,

Here is a short intro to what I'm working on in senior project. Keep in mind it took me ages to work this thing, so if this post ends up some place else lemme know, i would also like to know where it ends up going n look forward for your comments. Ive been having a few problems with Microsoft Office, so once i get a hold of that program ill mange to upload my artist statement, biography, images and diaries. Sorry for the inconvenience, just wanted to give this a head start.

Biography

Hazem Mahdi, born in the cultural city of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates - 1986, is an Egyptian artist. It was in Sharjah where he attended, studied and moved from many schools to stay with his brother Khalid. After spending a few summers with his aunt who taught art in kindergarten school in Cairo, he was strongly influenced to carry on what she taught him. He always carried a sketch book with him that he filled up by drawing his favorite cartoon characters and scenes he has visited in Egypt.

He joined the American University in Dubai (AUD), where he had in mind to study Graphic Design since it was the closest thing he found related to art to study. In the summer of 2006, Hazem took a digital photography course where it opened his mind up to another light in art, it was at a time where his photographs were greatly appreciated by many and made him feel like he should make another drastic change in his life. A few months after he changed his major from Graphic Design to Fine Art Photography; he was assured he did the right thing when he got so many good responses on a work of art he submitted to an exhibition promoting young artists. His chances on getting accepted in that exhibition were very slim, since his art work was purely political and Anti-American, a very sensitive subject that can hardly be discussed in the Middle East with out getting in trouble. The artist now challenges to create thought-provoking images, regarding various aspects in life that he wants to talk about in a non-sensational and non-literal manner.

Artist Statement

In the last couple of years I realized that my memory is fading away. Starting from cartoons from my childhood, or how I even looked like or what I did when I was young, how life was back then and so on. Having conversations with friends about certain things that all kids had in common when they were young and I would always feel left out since I cant recall anything relevant. I guess there were so many reasons behind it; maybe my parents were too occupied with 3 other raging teenagers in the house so they couldn’t have enough time to snap photos of my childhood or pay enough attention I wouldn’t know.

This feeling has advanced to a point where so many times while I’m having conversations or presenting something I would forget what I’m talking about completely. Sometimes it doesn’t bother me as much because there are a lot of thing I feel better without knowing they ever existed, such as horrible experiences in my past or what not, but I feel more and more lost.

Finally, being raised in this country that has rapidly blossomed over the past 10 years made it even harder for me to recall how a road was laid out a few days ago before it was torn down to become a bridge or tunnel … etc. I can understand how something like this is normal, and I agree with the fact that it is. But being convinced about watching movies I haven’t or played games I didn’t, starts to make me worry a bit. This project will discuss my “in my opinion” memory loss, how my mind might remember certain things being there if they weren’t and vice versa.