Artist Omar Houssien put together this amazing series for today’s exclusive NAKID feature editorial titled, ‘ENTRE CHIEN ET LOUP‘.
‘Entre Chien et Loup‘ (“Between a Dog and a Wolf”, aka witching hour) is a project made in 2019 about sexual identity. While sexuality is an exhausted theme in itself, public discourses and general acceptance until this day of sexual desires are limited by considerations for “decency” or “acceptability,” or are reactionary or othering in nature.
Taken for taboo, people with different sexual mores are ostracized and persecuted. The marginalized are often times denied agency and space for sexual expression. While sexualities are repressed, sexual liberation has been declared. The contradiction is in the co-existence and interplay between socio- political apparatuses for sexual policing, and others for sexual exploitation and sensationalization.
The project thematically plays with, and places its starting point at this schizophrenic, dichotomous and agitated approach of society and ongoing discourses in their address of sexuality and sexual identity. It examines the absurdity of perceiving sexuality through this social tug-of-war between sexual repression and hypersexuality, neither of which offer a space for sexual inclusion and acceptance. Instead, the project proposes sexual normalization. Its approach is to decontextualize, augment, and purposefully banalize the imagery, language, and materials of sexual “deviancy.”
The project consists of a series of illustrations of different paraphilia, examining the preconceived notions of sexuality and the human body. The artwork is illustrative and showcases a normalization of paraphilia, the abstract symbolism that stem from them and the intimacy that occurs because of them. Each artwork is a bright-colored illustration of the desire, along with a small definition of it, imitating the style of children’s literature.
Born in 1990 in Australia, I am an Egyptian artist with a background in design, illustration and visual communication. Having completed my studies in Milan, Italy, I returned to Cairo where I contributed work to art spaces and cultural initiatives, development programs, and various advertising campaigns. My work in these fields is concerned with the creative visualization of ideas and emotion. It is a form that is naturally contingent on its content; in view of this, I try to commit myself to initiatives and projects that value artistic expression and creative work with a socio-political focus, and where I would preferably be prompted to experiment and collaborate with other artists. Having had exhibitions in Cairo, Amsterdam, Milan and Belgrade, as well as having participated in residency program in Amsterdam in 2017, my practice, in short, is primarily focused on the alternative imagining and narration of contemporary issues, with a research-based ‘remixing’ process of decontextualisation of elements from their originally-perceived reality and their subsequent recontextualisation under a different, yet relevant, lens. This practice entails the rethinking and rebuilding of a specific theme in a new visual light that is guided by, often times, neglected elements of its historicity, universality and cultural value. The aim is ultimately to create work that is relevant, new and contributive to contemporary discourses and efforts.
If you love this visual story then show them some love, this is just a glimpse of the amazing stuff they have created – head over to their Instagram below to check out more from this awesome artist and support their creativity and your daily inspiration by following them!
Check out more of Omar Houssien and their work here: INSTAGRAM
