What art have I seen? Walid Raad’s To be honest the weather helped
Walid Raad makes work that blurs with everyday life, but coming from the never ending conflict of the Middle East. His images are often banal, but the stories that he wraps them in are sharp – the ‘first job’ photos of shop fronts which are later discovered to be put out of business because they wouldn’t pay the extortion. Above the discovered artist who made works on the backs of paintings in a museum.
How do you deal with (adapt to) living in a state of continual low intensity war?
Para-fictions.
https://www.stedelijk.nl/en/exhibitions/walid-raad-2
Also saw Welkom in adjacent rooms a totally factual documentary photography exhibition on mining communities in South Africa. The implementation of Apartheid, the connections with Dutch culture, the impact on young people. Very strange because the aesthetics intersect.
CHRIS FREMANTLE 
leave a comment