Ibrahim Ahmed

quickly but carefully cross to the other side

‘quickly but carefully cross to the other side’ is a provocation to reconsider mindsets about masculinity. Through research and production I ask: What narrative do societies create about men, and what does this imply? What oppressive systems of power are being (un)consciously perpetuated through the ‘real man’ discourse? My research directed my focus towards my father, by using archival family photos that span 50 years. Majority of the images are taken by him, viewing the world through his lens, highlighting the places and things he captures. Images of cars, national monuments, military parades and museums, are amongst the things he deems important to capture. He also considers these spaces fit for family trips.

These photographs map my father’s trajectory from farm boy in the North Delta, to banker in the US, Kuwait, and Bahrain (with many business trips throughout the north and the global south). Over this period of time his posture shifts; his body and person becomes a symbol of a complex terrain that places and references masculinity within several geographies and social strata, blurring the lines of specificity. Using techniques that involve editing, layering, cutting, and weaving enlarged copies of the original pictures, I collage these images to map out masculinities and question how my personal history has positioned me to embody these discourses. ‘quickly but carefully cross to the other side’ is the fourth iteration which continues from the project ‘burn what needs to be burned’, an ongoing investigation on the theme of masculinity and ‘masculine traditions’.

Words by Amira Hanafi and Ibrahim Ahmed

About Ibrahim Ahmed

Born in Kuwait (1984), Ibrahim Ahmed spent his childhood between Bahrain and Egypt before moving to the US at the age of thirteen. In 2014, he relocated to Cairo, where he currently lives and works in the informal neighbourhood of Ard El Lewa. Ahmed’s manipulations of material, especially textile, are informed by research into the histories and movements of people and objects. His works in mixed media, photocollage, sculpture, and installation engage with subjects related to colonisation, structures of power, cultural interactions, and fluid identity, generating discussion around ideas of the self and notions of authenticity within the parameters of the nation-state. Ibrahim Ahmed’s work has been exhibited internationally. He is represented by Sara Zanin Gallery in Rome, Italy and Tintera Gallery in Cairo, Egypt.