since 2017
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Artist Projects
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With the 1991 Gulf War, US soldiers brought quintessential American artifacts to Kuwait: weapons and fast food chains. Fascinated by images of McDonald’s in US military bases, Hanane El Ouardani journeys to the Gulf, intent on capturing her surroundings. But Kuwait proves challenging to navigate: mobility is limited to cars, the original fast food restaurants are inaccessible, and the remnants of the past seem scarce. In addition, as a North African woman photographer, she wrestles with a web of misogynistic judgment, occasional oversight, and skepticism.
Still, El Ouardani persistently scours Kuwait City for war remnants, discovering a card game portraying Iraqi leaders played by American soldiers. In “The Grass is Greener on The Other Side” (2023), she catches glimpses of a country veiled by futurism, detached from the ground and projected into the sky. The card game is a rupture in the veil, and a car adorned with Kuwaiti leaders’ portraits becomes a shrine to those responsible for this willful amnesia.
Despite this erasure, America’s ghost persists in Kuwait’s hypercapitalism, with shopping malls and fast-food joints, mainly employing migrant workers, serving as the nation’s agora. In Kuwait, the future is now, and migrants are building it. On “Prospects,” El Ouardani shares portraits of the hopeful men borrowed by the Gulf yet never integrated into its society, recognizing her grandfather’s life trajectory, a Moroccan guestworker in the 1960s Netherlands.
To observe Kuwait, one of the world’s hottest inhabited places, is to face the blinding blaze of its sun, a brilliance so intense it compels eyes to avert their gaze. Through these photographs, El Ouardani refuses to look away.
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futures activities
FUTURES is a European Photography Platform that brings together the global photography community to support and nurture the professional development of emerging artists worldwide.
FUTURES curates exhibitions and programs, including talks, through our extensive network of top European curators and artists.
The FUTURES Residency Program provides selected emerging photographers with the time, space, and resources to develop new work, with a strong focus on the artistic process and research.
FUTURES annual publications feature in-depth articles, interviews and conversations with key players from the global community. Released alongside the annual exhibition, the publication showcases work by FUTURES artists alongside commissioned essays on some of the most compelling issues in contemporary photography.