In Akim Monet’s monograph, he writes that “seeing is first and foremost sensory: an experience akin to tasting and touching”.
With that in mind, it is easy to see why his photographs, now on display in XVA Gallery in Dubai, appear much more like paintings, with a depth and a warmth that is almost tangible.
Seeking Al-Tawhid in Andalucia is a collection of images of Islamic architecture in southern Spain – but rather than frame prints of the photos, Monet developed a technique that took the negative image, enlarged it to bring out its detail and then printed it on watercolour cotton-pressed paper, so as to allow the ink to bleed.
“It is a process close to actual painting, where the pigment from the ink seeps into the paper,” he says. “It gives you the same joy that you get looking at a very detailed painting or drawing.”
The images are stunning and do indeed bring joy to the viewer – but it is the philosophy behind them that really enlivens them and makes them memorable.
Tawhid, the word used in the title of the collection, is an Islamic term referring to the oneness of God. Monet began the project while contemplating the lack of human or animal imagery in Islamic art.
Just as the attempt to reproduce one of God’s living creations is considered blasphemous in Islam, Monet found a similar ineptitude in the ability of photography to truly capture the essence of an object.
While it is an exact reproduction, a photograph lacks a dimension and so cannot access the kind of exaltation of emotion and that, Monet says, “is the difference between an image and a piece of art”.
The negative from a camera does, however, bear the imprint of the object being photographed.
Seeing an enlarged negative in such detail is fascinating, too. The colours – in some cases deep peacock blue, orange, yellow and fiery red – are at odds with what you expect on a stone building, and the sections Monet has cropped out leave you wondering what you are actually looking at. They are, in fact, abstract facades that celebrate the beauty of Islamic architecture and its geometric patterns.
“In the arabesque, it was interesting for me to see how pioneers in the Muslim world invented a visual language that makes your eye oscillate between the second and third dimension without using the human or animal form,” he says.
The repetition of units within Islamic art and geometry are a visual demonstration of the oneness of God, while also showing that His presence is everywhere – it is this deeply spiritual philosophy that Monet attempts to present in this collection.
“The geometry is a metaphor for our relationship with the absolute – so without even getting into the actual visual beauty of the subject, the conceptual framework is so powerful,” he says.
Monet is a Swiss-American who grew up surrounded by art – his middle name is Yves after the post-war French artist Yves Klein, of whom his mother was a great friend – and studied comparative literature and art history at Cornell University.
This is his first exhibition in Dubai and despite the title, he is keen to note that the exhibition is not aimed specifically at Muslims or the Islamic world.
“There is a spiritual quality in Islam that is expressed in Andalucia that is very strong,” he says. “But you don’t have to be Muslim, or even monotheist, to appreciate it – it simply appeals to humanity.”
• Seeking Al-Tawhid in Andalucia runs until December 10 at XVA Gallery. For more information, visit www.xvagallery.com
aseaman@thenational.ae