The College of Arts and Creative Enterprises (CACE) at Zayed University, presents Revive Remake Re-photograph, an expanded photography exhibition by CACE/ZU students, at the female promenade gallery AUH campus. The group exhibition will be displayed from 20 September to 4 October 2023. The opening will take place on 20 September at 12:00.

Revive, Remake, Re-photograph is an exhibition that seeks to explore, how the boundaries of traditional photography are pushed and reshaped. This creative attempt ventures beyond the confines of a single medium, embracing the captivating world of mixed media to breathe new life into photographs. In this thinking through practice exploration, we dive into the complexity of transforming a photograph's surface, fusing it with an array of diverse materials. Revive, Remake, Re-photograph is a process that invites controlled and accidental modes of making that lead to innovative ideas and fresh perspectives, which in turn challenge our perceptions of everyday life depicted in photographs and expand the horizons of artistic expression.

Non-camera photography and mixed media practices have been extensively used during the 200 years of photographic practice. Examples from the history of photography include the photogenic drawings of Henry Fox Talbot and photograms by modern artists Laslo Moholy Naggy and Man Ray. Noteworthy practices thereafter are the Xerox “Copy Art” of the 70s (Firpo et al. 1978) celebrated by the latest show, Experiments in Electrostatics (2018). Outside of the United States, cameraless photography is also prominent in contemporary photographic exhibitions. Antipodean Emanations at Monash Gallery of Art (2018) showcased contemporary cameraless works by noteworthy photographic artists including Marco Breuer, Liz Deschenes, and Justine Varga (MGA 2018). The term cameraless photography seems in sync with the practice of non-camera photography, described by Robert Shore as post-photography.

The words post-photography, and even emanation, denote issues of medium specificity, modes of representation, and engagement with viewers’ perception. For example, Marco Breuer’s “experimental approach includes a conceptual framework and the use of chemical processes, such as fire and alcohol” (SFMOMA Channel 2019). Likewise, Liz Deschenes’s “laborious technique for creating large-scale photograms at night make use of wide variety of chemicals and atmospheric conditions” (SFMOMA Channel 2019) that challenge viewers’ perspectives.

CACE ZU artists Alya Almahmoud, Asayel Almahri, Hanaa Almusawa, Haya Alsaad, Latifa Almadani, Mahra Alkhajeh, Mariam Almansoori, Noor Albraiki, Reem Alkatheeri, Reem Aljaberi, Reem Almansoori, Salama Alremeithi, Shaikha Alhanaee, Taif Alshehhi, are positioning their work among such practices and providing their own contributions on intermedia exploration, different modalities of representation and interpretation, as well as providing  their own engagement with society and viewers’ perceptions.