From the softness of a misty morning on a lake in China, to the luminosity of the minarets at the Prophet’s Mosque in Medinah Medina, the sound of rippling water in Japan, the call to prayer in a small wooden mosque in Pennsylvania, the words of the Qur’an penetrating the heart’s of believers in Mecca…all of this creates a translucent quality, like m, the sound of rippling water in Japan, the call to prayer in a small wooden mosque in Pennsylvania, the words of the Qur’ran permeating the hearts of believers in Mecca…all of this creates a translucent quality, like moonlight in a desert night, within the photographs of Reem Al Faisal. Herthe photographs of Reem Al Faisal touch the senses and share with the viewer the very essence of the shape of light.

This Muslim artist, sprung from her native Saudi culture and history, seeks to reveal the Divine in nature and in Man. For her, “every photograph is a pattern of light and shade,” and exists simply as, “moonlight in a desert night, within the photographs of Reem Al Faisal.

“For me,” she says, “My photography is a way to praise God’s glory in the universe.”

As an artist she proceeds in her mission. She does this does this eloquently, exploring and revealing the light in parts of parts of nature where no human has gone; and where no human has gone; within the constructive dimension of the constructive dimension of architecture that emerged from that is both constructed that emerged from the hand and eye and also in the hand and eye and mind and heart of man; and in the human heart; and the in the human heart..

In some photographs her deft eye and her camera are present when light begins to take a shape within the Creation. In others she witnesses the beginning of the disappearance of light; and within her photographs of the human form, she records the play of light as it travels from the heart to the eye and reveals itself as nur on the face of her subject. Her camera is present when light peeks through the window of a shop or rests on a leaf or a chair, or the wall of a mosque.

At both the beginning and the end, when light is just beginning to take a shape within the Creation and when it disappears into total darkness. , in others she witnesses the beginning of the disappearance of light, and within her photographs of the human form , she record s the play of light in its journey as it travels from the heart to the to the eye, tracing its evolution until it reveals itself and reveals itself as the nur on the subject’s face of her subject. Her camera is present when light peeks through the window of a shop or rests on a leaf or a chair, or the wall of a mosque.

The light expressed in her black and white photographs is like a flickering flame that alternates between the is sometimes bright and sometimes bright, sometimes filtered, sometimes a flickering flame, and at other times hard, yet a moment later soft, like the petal of a flower.

While embracing the tremendous variation in between, she moves effortlessly in her photography between the hard light of angles and sharp contrasts and the, sometimes a flickering flame, and at other times hard, yet a moment later softness reminiscent of flower petals and rippling water.

Reem Al Faisal’s photographs are muffled prayers expressing a moment that will never return, yet indicating that there exists even more than they remain as expressive and convincing indicators yet indicating that more exists even more than what you see and feel. They are of a convincing reflection of the most sacred of places and ultimately they touch a sacred space within each of us.

Shems Friedlander
Director, The Sony Gallery for Photography,
The American University in Cairo
February, 2008