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His photographs are exquisite works of art. Through the eye of his camera Bassam Lahoud provides a fresh and unusual perspective of people, landscapes and everyday objects such as a pair of spectacles, a spiral staircase or a window.
His pictures have a spiritual quality and a delightful sense of movement. And the play of light is just perfect. But the most amazing thing about these artworks is that they have all been created with the camera on his cell phone.
Lahoud calls it "Mobile Art". "The name is apt because I have taken these pictures with my mobile phone and also because the special effects have been created by my movements while taking the pictures," he says. Lahoud's Mobile Art photographs are on display at Ibn Battuta Mall till tomorrow as part of the Dubai Summer Surprises' Arts Surprises.
Expertise
Lahoud's choice of a cell phone camera with very low resolution is intriguing because he owns several good cameras. In fact, he is an expert in the field of photography with over 20 years of experience. He studied photography and architecture and teaches photography at the Lebanese American University's School of Arts and Sciences. A well-known restorer and artist, Lahoud is the chairman of the ESCWA Arts Council at the UN, the founder of a magazine on photography and has exhibited his work around the world.
He got interested in Mobile Art two years ago, when his father was in hospital. "I knew my father was dying and had an overwhelming desire to have a physical record of him during the time we had left together. So I started taking pictures of him everyday on my cell phone. When I took the first picture of him in his hospital bed, my hands were shaking with emotion," he recalls. "The picture was fuzzy but I saw that it had a spiritual quality, which seemed to capture my father's deep spirituality," he adds.
Visual effects
The pictures Lahoud took in the hospital aroused his professional curiosity and motivated him to experiment with this truly contemporary art form. "I was like a child with a new toy. I was fascinated by the various visual effects that were possible with this simple device. I researched every aspect and found that the speed at which I moved while taking the pictures caused different effects and that a tungsten lamp created a reddish-orange background, while a neon light gave the pictures a green hue. And when the battery was low there would be stripes all over the picture," says Lahoud.
Last year he held his first exhibition of Mobile Art in Beirut. Lahoud is happy to participate in the Dubai Summer Surprises. "I was invited by an ex-student, who is involved in organising this event. I accepted because I believe in always being there for my students and because as an artist and a teacher I want to share my skills and my art with as many people as possible," he says.
Don't miss it
Bassam Lahoud's Mobile Art is on display in the Egypt Court of Ibn Battuta Mall till tomorrow.
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