From idyllic landscapes to images of war and anxiety: in part two of our blog series by young Kuwaiti artists visiting the UK to perform in the Shubbak Festival, Nima Algooneh tells us about his first art installation, his mentors in Kuwait and how he accidentally became an ‘artist’
I was born in Kuwait and continue to live there. My mother is a Kuwaiti of Iranian heritage, and my father is Canadian of Iranian heritage. I went to the Universal American School in Kuwait, and grew up in Kuwait and Canada; my family moved back and forth between the two countries.
I was given the opportunity to create and exhibit my first installation after applying for the visual arts residency in Kuwait in response to Out of Britain. I hadn’t intended to apply until Alia Farid, the showrunner of the residency, implored me. I felt as though I didn’t have the traditional and established background or technical art training to be involved, however she was very encouraging saying that it was my unorthodoxy that they were looking for.
We were very fortunate to have Alia leading and mentoring us throughout the process, she’s extremely experienced and talented and I can’t thank her enough. I also enjoyed working with the UK artists during the Landscapes Expanded visual arts residency where David Rayson took us through his process and technique of painting. Other artists including Freya Douglas, Emanuel Rohss and Laura Fitzgerald presented their work. It was very helpful to see so many different types of pieces and have the artist there to share details.
Like I said, I never studied fine arts; I studied religion, literature and the arts, not for any particular reason other than I knew very little about those things and was curious to learn more. I never thought I’d become an ‘artist’. To be honest, I’m still not comfortable using that word; I have to rely on my background in art theory and history.
I had a literature professor in university who told me something which seemed obvious but wasn’t until I had heard it. “When you create, create something that you would want.” Write things that you’d like to read, music you’d like to hear. For the most part, that is my main motivation. What would I like to see in a gallery? I’ve always been my own audience, but now, other people are showing up and that’s pretty exciting.
My first installation, I don’t want to talk about it, was a corrugated aluminium wall with two characters each represented by an old TV shell attached facing into the wall, with clothing hanging under it. Through TV grates, the viewer can see a film that loops. It’s near enough impossible to explain verbally, but for me, it dealt with issues of war, desolation, anxiety, simulation and reality. All quite heavy, all prompted by the idyllic landscape art that came with Out of Britain.
Additionally, I was part of a writing workshop with Georgina Van Welie in Kuwait. She’s wonderful: so constructive and helpful, and she really has a good sense of everything. I’ve been very fortunate to have two very talented and capable people to support me in Alia and Georgina.
Normally, it can be difficult working with writers in Kuwait. Writers are defensive, they want to protect their work, so it can be hard to discuss ideas. It’s great to have Georgina and her husband, the writer and director Sulayman Al Bassam of Sabab theatre company. They provide a small forum to openly present and improve pieces in Kuwait.
It’s been a very rewarding year for me. I’ve gone from someone who primarily wrote and produced things for his own amusement, I had never put anything I’ve created in exhibit for people to see and judge. It has happened a number of times this year and I’m always excited when those times come.
None of it would have happened without support of Contemporary Arts Platform in Kuwait and the British Council. You cats have been swell.
Nima Algooneh is a screen and theatre writer who lives in Kuwait. His work was featured in Landscapes Expanded, a residency and platform for visual artists alongside Out of Britain exhibition by the British Council and Contemporary Art Platform Kuwait, in partnership with the National Council for Arts and Letters. He wrote and performed in Night 376: modern ancient genie in New Writing From Kuwait at the Mosaic Rooms as part of Shubbak festival, London in July 2013.
Meet Nada Faris in “I write to get back at people”, the first of our two blogs by young Kuwaiti artists.
Visit our Visual Arts website to take a virtual tour of Out of Britain, an exhibition exploring the theme of the British landscape.
