Our Hidden Room
by Mohamed Hassan
"Trauma is not what happens to us, but what we hold inside in the absence of an empathetic witness."
Caruth, C.
Our Hidden Room.
As an artist with dual nationality, this project explores my identity as part of an ever-expanding diasporic community based in Wales. I draw inspiration from the memory of my complex yet loving relationship with my father. I reflect on his own personal struggle with bipolar disorder, made clear to me by his erratic, reclusive, behaviour and his obsession with the small dark room, hidden within our family home.
Through my lens, I seek to explore the complexity of the human experience and the legacy of a traumatic and uncertain childhood, of living within a fragile environment and the desire to escape memories. My personal conflict about belonging is represented through the people I meet and the lands that I explore, both in Egypt and Wales. The constant feeling of displacement and questions of identity are forever present.
Bio
Originally from Alexandria, I have been living and working in Pembrokeshire, in west Wales in the UK since 2007, graduating with a 1st class honours degree in Photography from Carmarthen School of Art in 2016. I have been shortlisted for several awards and competitions and my work has been exhibited at the prestigious Mission Gallery, the Waterfront National Museum in Wales the Trajectory Showcase Competition Exhibition in Shoreditch, London, Nova Cymru 2018 and had a portrait included in the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait exhibition 2018 at the National Portrait Gallery in London.
More recently I am exhibiting 4 images in 'Facing Britain', curated by Ralph Goertz at Kunsthalle Darmstadt Museum Goch - touring to Koslar and Krakow in 2022. In Wales, the Many Voices, One Nation 2' supported by the Senedd and exhibiting at Ffotogallery included 11 of my images and 5 images at Oriel Davies in the Responding to Rembrandt exhibition.