Amir, New York 2006
Archival pigment ink on archival cotton-rag paper
75 x 115 cm
Amir, New York 2006 features a young man languishing on a pink mattress, his face half masked by a gesture of relaxation. His djellaba is suggestively lifted above his thighs.
Youssef Nabil's photographs of exile project the desire for an Arab world where sexuality is no longer taboo. Here, the Egyptian photographer transposes the lustful, erotic imagery associated with the Arab woman in the orientalist imagination to a man. The sleeper is immersed in a pastel-toned atmosphere—the result of hand-colouring—heightening the fantasy effect.
Acquired by the Pinault Collection, Amir, New York 2006 is being presented for the first time during Nabil's 2020 solo show “Once Upon A Dream” at the Palazzo Grassi in Venice.
