Mousse Magazine & Publishing – serie

“Al Qasimi’s photographs are filled with flowers but they are rarely real. Instead, they are represented metonymically as object, ornament, pattern, and image. In a series of flower studies, their natural forms are translated materially into a glinting crystal trinket, a perishable garnish carved from a tomato or carrot, and a sugary decoration piped in pink frosting. By capturing this material metamorphosis Al Qasimi amplifies the ways in which flowers are commonly consumed as ornamental commodities intended to embellish and entice. ”—Murtaza ValiTitled after Farah Al Qasimi’s photograph Star Machine (2021)—a self-portrait in which the artist uses the star machine to transcend the monotony of her surroundings after two weeks of quarantine—this publication accompanies the homonymous exhibition at the Art Gallery of Western Australia, curated by Rachel Cie?la. Presenting a selection of photographs from across new and existing bodies of work, which are wrapped in found images sourced from Alibaba merchants, this book speaks to our shared aspirations for transcendence beyond our daily lives. Understanding the camera as a relational tool, Al Qasimi’s hyper-colourised and richly textured photographs focus our attention upon how we see, feel and initiate contact with people, places, or ways of being within today’s world. Published in collaboration with the Art Gallery of Western Australia and the Simon Lee Foundation Institute of Contemporary Asian Art.

"Fugue is published on the occasion of the eponymous duo exhibition by artists Aaron Amar Bhamra and Céline Mathieu, presented at Jester in Genk, Belgium.The title, derived from the Latin fuga (flight), evokes both its musical and psychological meanings: a contrapuntal compositional technique and a state of dissociation. These dual connotations—aural and mental—resonate throughout the exhibition and this accompanying publication.Céline Mathieu’s work moves between the sensory and the conceptual, integrating multiple media to explore the circulation of thoughts and materials in relation to specific sites. Aaron Amar Bhamra’s practice draws on recurring forms and materials to construct evolving personal and social archives, often reactivating exhibition spaces by engaging with their historical contexts.In addition to documenting the exhibition, the publication features an introduction by Jester’s artistic director Koi Persyn, a visual score of a sound composition by Charlie Usher, written contributions by Céline Mathieu, curator Eloise Sweetman, and researcher Johanna Schindler, as well as a series of analog photographs by Aaron Amar Bhamra."