Bilal and Farouk: Works and Bios

Lauren Sokolov

Wafaa Bilal, born in Iraq on June 10, 1966, is a video artist and former professor of art, and is famous for creating works demonstrating political, social, and racial tensions. His life and experiences in Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and eventually the United States provide the basis for his works, along with their compelling yet sensitive and even difficult-to-confront subject matters.

Since his early childhood in Iraq, Bilal aspired to become an artist, and developed a specific interest in political matters and their subsequent social effects. Even one of the early pieces he made in Iraq led to his arrest, due to its controversial critique of Saddam Hussein. In 1991, Bilal fled Iraq upon his refusal to take part in the invasion of Kuwait, and spent two years in a refugee camp in Saudi Arabia, where he worked as a children’s art teacher.

Bilal came to the United States in 1992. He studied art first in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and then in Chicago. Despite his success in teaching and giving lectures on the situation in Iraq, he was deeply affected by the death of his brother, who was killed at a U.S. checkpoint in 2005. From that event, he was prompted to create one of his most memorable pieces, “Domestic Tension,” (2007). This digital-interactive piece displays his childhood in Iraq, along with the time he spent in refugee camps in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. It is an installation-performance piece that brings his experience to life through a remote-controlled paintball gun and camera connecting him to the internet. It displays the contemporary issues of political and cultural tensions that we are forced to confront.

City Lights recently published an article, “Shoot an Iraqi,” (2008) expanding on Bilal’s story and on “Domestic Tension.” The article discusses how Bilal demonstrates his situation in Iraq by presenting the tense, nerve-wracking conditions he experienced – ultimately representing the conditions of all Iraqi citizens under Saddam Hussein’s regime. He builds seclusion and fear of violence into a reflection of his immigration to the United States, depicting the obstacles and eventual benefits he has encountered.

Other notable works by Bilal include “The Human Condition,” “Virtual Jihadi,” “Midwest Olympia,” and “Sorrow of Baghdad.” These projects, which contain photographs, installations and video, also display the situation in Iraq and its social and political effects. Examples of the heart-wrenching works include a statue (in “Sorrow of Baghdad”) depicting a mother trying to protect her child moments before her own death, and images (in “Human Condition”) of surreal (“hyper-real”) landscapes portraying oppression and fear, in a non-specific, open-narrative sense that allows audiences to draw their own interpretations and conclusions.
Wafaa Bilal continues to spread his art and political messages, through museum exhibitions, lectures, and travels around the world. His main incentive in presenting the situation in Iraq is, ultimately, to stress the importance of peaceful conflict resolution. His poignant, powerful works have left a significant impression on audiences worldwide, and his artistic presentation has added a large contribution to video, photography, and installation.

Ismail Farouk, the “Urban Photographer,” is an artist from Johannesburg, South Africa known for his videos and photographs examining spatial relations in urban places. The aim of his work is to display public space while conveying how private authorities and organizations have asserted control over them. His pieces force us to confront the truth about cultural inequalities based on class, race, and political matters.
Farouk began his studies of cultural inequality at Wits University, where he earned a degree in Fine Art and, later, a Masters degree in Urban Geography. From there, he began working with an architectural firm on a project regarding the modernization of Yeoville, Johannesburg. He applied his observational skills and the theoretical approaches he learned at Wits to develop the “network approach methodology.” It was then that he set the characteristic theme of his work: the idea of mainstream urban society, and the contradiction therein.

Amongst Farouk’s most famous works is “Trolley Pusher Project,” which shows globalization in Johannesburg and uses video to demonstrate cultural discrimination and pre-judgment in society. The piece contains footage of “trolley pushers” and their important but illegal service of transporting the luggage of people commuting from one Taxi service to another. The shopping cart trolleys are stolen from supermarkets by Zimbabwean gang members, and the trolley pushers use them to earn money by offering their services to commuters. The illegality of this service is well known by customers, who rarely pay trolley pushers more than a small fraction of their asking price. This and other exploitation problems exist in this service, including the issue of police raids, which result in heavy fines for the trolley pushers and, after repeated offenses, even imprisonment.

Farouk has used “Trolley Pusher Project” and his other pieces in Johannesburg to compare mainstream urbanization in South Africa and in Los Angeles, California, in exhibitions such as “Cancelled Without Prejudice” at the MAK Center. His comparison shows a surprising parallel between Johannesberg and Los Angeles: the similarity of their racial/socioeconomic issues in public spaces. He has also contributed to a collaborative project, “Urban Concerns,” again a social and political research piece in which Farouk used artistic approaches to connect citizens of Johannesburg. His aim was to spread awareness and unity amongst those living in the urban conditions he has studied.

Ismail Farouk continues to research geographic and social conditions throughout the world, and strives for spatial and economic justice within the urban locations he has encountered. The creative and artistic methods he uses to apply his subject matter have helped to empower countless citizens in the struggle for justice, and make audiences aware of the struggle and the importance of ameliorating it.

Sources and Information:

Wafaa Bilal

Ismail Farouk