Photographer Marwan Bassiouni, raised in a Muslim family, developed a keen interest in religion at the age of twenty-four. From then on, he has been studying and practicing the Islamic faith. His work stems from a desire to portray a different perspective on the relationship between Islam and Western Europe, often depicted as conflictive in the media. He invites his audience to peer into a world that is unfamiliar to many. For example, since 2017, he has been working on the series Prayer Rug Selfies, in which he takes a photo of his prayer mat in various locations after prayer. These images offer us a glimpse into the intimate world of his own religiosity.
New Western Views 2021-2022
For his series New Western Views, Marwan photographs mosques. Or rather, he chooses to capture the view from these places of worship to the outside world. The focus of these photos lies on the windows of mosques, offering a shift in perspective. Instead of viewing Islam, you look out from the mosque into society. As Marwan says: “I invite the viewer to step inside, to look at their own landscape from a different perspective.” For the cloister, he created new work, opting for a larger format. These are views he photographed in Scotland, England, Switzerland, and the Netherlands. At first glance, the contrast between the interior of the mosque and the surrounding area was striking. The view of a Swiss suburb, Scottish railway bridge, or Dutch city park stood out against the often richly decorated mosques with colorful carpets and tiles featuring Islamic designs. However, through the clear and balanced composition of the works, the religious inner world and the Western European outer world coexist harmoniously. In post-production, Bassiouni manipulates the lighting and contrast between the interior and exterior worlds to achieve a seamless blending of the two.
www.ftn-books.com has the invitation card for his Fotomuseum exhibition now available.
