A fly on the wall

During my studies at the Minshar school of arts, I visited the sets of my friends' film productions in the film department at Minshar and other schools, photographing what was happening behind the scenes. I was impressed by the immense amount of equipment and props that were on set but remained hidden in the final result – the film. I was surprised by the number of hours required to produce a single minute of film, in contrast to the more immediate nature of still photography. On these productions, I felt like a fly on the wall in someone else's movie. Usually, my photographs do not tend to tell a coherent or narrative story – rather, they seek to convey a feeling or atmosphere. However, my ongoing presence on film sets began to infiltrate my creative work, and my photos became more cinematic and narrative. A conflict arose for me between the narrative and staged aspects of the work and the moment of photography, which is documentary in nature. As a still photographer on a film set, I felt like a tourist observing what the locals no longer pay attention to. I saw the crew around me working, each with a defined role, and the director or directors acting as conductors of this orchestra. While everyone was working, I stood, held a camera, and captured new moments. The works presented in this exhibition reveal the means of creating the illusion of cinema and its fragile and marginal moments.