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| Mohamad Badr 'Bloody Streets; The Manifestation of Power, Nabatiyeh, Lebanon' 150 x 100 cm. Photography on Archival Paper Edition of 3 2011-2012 |
"The Power of...", an exhibition of photographs by the Lebanese artist Mohamad Badr, documents the observance of Ashura, the Shi'a Muslim day of mourning over the martyrdom of Husayn, the Prophet's grandson. Shi'ites mourn Husayn's death by holding processions which often feature self-flagellation. The artist depicts men having their scalps cut, beating themselves with chains, and weeping together, bloodied and bruised. The intensity and devotion we see in the faces and bodies of Badr's subjects is frightening yet, somehow, romantic. Each year on Ashura, Husayn's violent martyrdom is not merely remembered; for Shi'ites, it is as though it happened that day. This feeling comes through in Mohamad Badr's photographs, and can only be intensified by the interactive installation at Beirut's Ayyam Gallery, which features large projections of two photographs, and displays the tools (such as razor blades and chains) used by participants in the ritual.
