Majd Abdel Hamid

Variations On Distance

2020–21
Mixed media and text on paper
30 x 23 cm; handstitched

Artist’s Statement

Cities Under Quarantine came during a heightened sense of uselessness, when everything came to a halt. One was left to wonder: How can we work while under quarantine?

In the beginning I started with the repetition of the word al sabr—patience in Arabic—like a lullaby. The sketchbook took a different trajectory as it witnessed the blast on August 4, 2020. In retrospect, there was something very violent about surviving a major explosion while still trying to socially distance. I remember that it was one of the strangest feelings, in the following days, when any form of compassion was expressed.

This 1.5 meters we were required to keep could have consequences, so people maintained the distance as much as possible. The book became an attempt to transform this distance into form.

Biography

Majd Abdel Hamid (b. 1988, Damascus) is currently based between Beirut and Paris. He graduated from Malmö Art Academy, Sweden and attended the International Academy of Art in Palestine. Hamid has had solo exhibitions in Glasgow, Paris, and Brussels, and has been featured in numerous group exhibitions, including at the Sharjah Art Museum; SMAK, Ghent; Frac Franche-Comté, Besançon; Cité International des Arts, Paris; Ruya Maps,Venice; Beirut Art Center; Krognoshuset Lund, Sweden; and the Valencia Institute of Modern Art, among others. He has taken part in several international residencies and workshops, including March Project (Sharjah Art Foundation), Former West (Berlin), and Truth is Concrete (Graz, Austria). Hamid worked in residence at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris in 2009. He was a finalist for the Young Artist of the Year Award, presented by the A. M. Qattan Foundation, in 2008, 2010, and 2012.

Majd Abdel hamid – Variations on Distance

Quarantined in Beirut; For Cities Under Quarantine – The Mailbox Project