‘It was a fire, for goodness sake!’ As he talks us through his moment of environmental awakening, it’s clear that Suhail Jashanmal – organiser and curator of Green Abu Dhabi 2010 – really believes in his cause. Since happening across an unattended, out of control campfire at a mangrove last year, the born-and-raised Dhabian has dedicated himself to raising environmental awareness and exploring practical solutions to remedy his city’s eco ignorance.
‘There were fisherman and swimmers around me who’d seen the fire and didn’t even help me. After it was over I just thought, “this is so visceral, how can I not bother to do something”,’ he continues, eyes wide, hands gesticulating wildly. ‘But the problem is we never get enough media coverage for a mangrove clean-up. So I said, “okay, I’ll have an art show where the artists talk about the problems”. We have to fund the clean-up, so 20 per cent of sales of the work go to charity.’
So, the belief, enthusiasm and good intentions behind Green Art are all very much present and correct. But can the artwork, laid out on the walls of a winding corridor in Emirates Heritage Club, do them justice and leave onlookers eager to recycle their rubbish and scrape gunk off an oily pelican? Well, either we were born with a lump of coal where our heart should be, or the simple answer is, ‘not really’.
First up, Genoveva Kriechbaum’s photographs make a decent stab at the eco-friendly theme, with layered images of wildlife and forestry immortalised on acrylic. Still, just as putting on a big white hat and holding a frying pan doesn’t make you a chef, taking a picture of a dead fish doesn’t make you an environmentalist, nor is it likely to convince others to change their carbon-spewing ways.
Turning the corner into a section owned by Fatema Al Mazrouie, you begin to wonder if you’ve stepped into the wrong exhibition altogether. Her richly textured collages may be deeply absorbing and fascinating to look at, but it’s a shame that the undoubted highlight of the show has so little to say about green issues. As she told us when we interviewed her a couple of months ago, women are the primary concern of Fatema’s work. We defy even the most obtuse onlooker to find an environmental message in ‘Khole’, for example; a piece that appears to comment on the irony of focusing on the eyes of abaya-clad women.
Tread carefully as you press on to Tini Meyer’s showcase. If the gold-painted twigs protruding from a black block of wood don’t take your eye out, there’s the danger of tripping over ‘Sandbad’, a sculpture made up of a bathtub filled with a life-size female figure, apparently drowning in sand and oil. Both seem to question how we prioritise the worth of our natural resources and perhaps with a few more pieces to bolster the theme, the artist’s work could have been the show’s biggest talking point.
Rounding things off, George Lewis’ photographs focus on the clash of Abu Dhabi’s Bedouin heritage with modern urban development and, garbed in traditional dress on the show’s opening night (he’s from London), you get the impression that his intentions are sincere enough. His work would certainly hold its own in the context of a straight-up photography exhibition, but the picture-postcard subtlety means there’s nothing provocative enough to inspire anyone to embark on any sort of tree-hugging crusade.
We’ll certainly admit that Green Art delivers a great showcase of work from some of the city’s most talented artists, and those willing to dig deep into their pockets can head home knowing they’ve contributed to a very worthy cause. But, unless you arrive armed with a small fortune, don’t expect to leave with the sort of environmental awakening experienced by Suhail as he stomped out that flaming mangrove.
Green Abu Dhabi 2010 runs until November 3 at Emirates Heritage Club, Al Bateen. Entry is free. www.greenabudhabi.org
