Razmig Bedirian In Jananne Al-Ani presents desert terrains in Jordan from a vantage point that is as haunting as it is mesmerising, especially considering its implications. The video artwork features a bird’s-eye perspective of the sandy expanses, with the camera roving across them at a languid and observant pace. The landscapes are lined and dotted with structures and patterns, such as roads and tilled fields.
The low sun casts long and oblique shadows that accentuate the forms. The piece by the Irish-Iraqi artist is one of the first in a new exhibition at Jameel Arts Centre in Dubai, running until September 29. An introduction to the At the Edge of Land show, lays the groundwork for its focus.
While Al-Ani utilises a technique called shadow relief (meaning aerial footage filmed when the sun is at a low to pinpoint buried sites) in her work, the collection at large unearths stories of conflict, erosion and extraction by observing landscapes. Fitting, then, that Al-Ani’s technique originated during the First World War, as reconnaissance missions sought to locate trenches and other military positions. In her turn, the visual media artist employs the method to reveal an unsettling truth of how the region has often been represented in the West.
Her work touches on the nature of satellite imagery in the Levant; terrains appear barren and lifeless. Shadow relief may accurately identify human presence, but nevertheless, its aerial views of a landscape flatten a physical space. .