Do You Have Work Tomorrow? 2013
Series of 32 screen shots of a staged conversation on an iPhone, transformed into Black and White silver gelatin prints, 15 X 10cm each.
Installation view, Kunstinstituut Melly, Rotterdam, 2018. © Photo, Kristien Daem
“In this piece, artist Mahmoud Khaled captures the ephemeral nature of desire as it manifests against a backdrop of a turbulent and perpetually shifting city. A two-hander, Khaled's work presents a staged conversation using Grindr, the locative mobile phone application designed for gay men. Through this simulated act of exchange, Khaled explores the tensions that arise out of a transformative moment – boredom, disenchantment, and sexual frustration. As the narrative unfolds, a borrowed cultural vernacular begins to emerge. Khaled asks which 'heat' is stronger – that of an illicit sexual longing, or the disruptive fire that encapsulates a moment of deep-seated societal change? Khaled captures this dialogue through black and white photographs, which were developed in a dark room. This process – of recalling the historical processes of traditional photography -- re-positions the conversation between these two individuals to a space that is both spatially and temporally non-located. “ Omar Kholeif
