EBTISAM ABDULAZIZ
  • About
    • BIO
    • CV
  • Work
    • 2022 >
      • Autobiography 2022
      • 2022 Artist in Residency program at Montgomery College
    • 2021 >
      • 'I can't breathe' 2021
      • collaboration with Life Water 2021
      • Collaboration with Swatch 2021
    • 2020 Isolation Art
    • 2019 >
      • Untitled 2019
      • Focal Illusion 2019
      • Life in a bag 2019
    • 2018 >
      • See Something Say Something 2018
      • Gold 2018
      • 2y+2m+5d=38m
    • 2017 >
      • Islamophobia 2017
      • A safe person to approach 2017
      • Subscription 2017
      • Re-Building 2017
    • 2016 >
      • Autobiography 2015-2016, Diary
      • Untitled 2016 (1)
      • Autobiography-USA 2014-16
      • Untitled 2016 (2)
      • Untitled 2016 (3)
    • 2015 >
      • Structures 2015
      • Unashamed 2015
      • Remapping DC 2015
    • 2014
    • 2013 >
      • Re-Mapping the Wall 2013
      • Re-Mapping House 11, 2013
      • Re-Mapping the Office 2013
      • Night Shadows 2013
      • Remapping AlFahidi 2013
      • Remapping Africa 2013
      • Blue Freedom 2013
      • My Phone’s Diary 2013
    • 2012 >
      • Autobiography 2012, Diary
      • Autobiography 2012- Plate Numbers
      • Autobiography 2012-Found Objects
    • 2011 >
      • Women’s Circles 2011
      • Self Portrait 2011
    • 2010 >
      • Untitled 2010
      • Re-Mapping The Arab World 2010-2013
    • 2009 >
      • Life in a Bag 09
      • Biography 09
      • Word in to Art 09
    • 2008 >
      • Untitled 08
    • 2007 >
      • Imaginary shapes 07
      • Light of the Shadow 07
      • Autobiography 07
    • 2006 >
      • Life's cube 06
      • 35 Minutes 06
      • My Brain 06
    • 2005 >
      • Portrait 05
      • Four Probabilities 05
      • Vision & Illusion 05
      • Autobiography 03-05
    • 2004 >
      • Number & Lifetime 04-05
      • Ten Triangles 04
      • Line 04
    • Paintings 1999- 2018
    • Collage
  • Video
  • Press
  • News
  • Contact

Remapping DC 2015

These acrylic on canvas works seek to depict city spaces with a technique similar to that of a film negative in order to emphasize the spaces and emptiness rather than the objects within the frame of vision. The works force an inversion of the default perspective of the viewer (which tends to emphasize objects over emptiness) by highlighting what is typically viewed as background and bringing it into the foreground in vibrant colors.
 The blue in the paintings represents the sky and emptiness while the yellow reflects the glow of the sun off surfaces on the ground. The short lines and symbols—in red, pink, yellow, orange, or blue—represent spray-painted street markings that note the presence (or future presence) of gas, water, electrical, or telecommunication lines in areas under construction, something I have frequently seen in U.S. cities. Because of the disorienting shift in perspective, the audience may be all the more tempted to decipher those lines, much as I was when I first saw them. Viewers may spontaneously begin see other images within the paintings or mistake the paintings for maps before finally noting that the white portions of the canvas contain the outlines of the buildings, trees, and other objects their eyes are conditioned to look for. The work forces the audience to experience absence as presence and presence as absence, inviting viewers to consider their relationship to both. 

©  2022 EBTISAM ABDULAZIZ
  • About
    • BIO
    • CV
  • Work
    • 2022 >
      • Autobiography 2022
      • 2022 Artist in Residency program at Montgomery College
    • 2021 >
      • 'I can't breathe' 2021
      • collaboration with Life Water 2021
      • Collaboration with Swatch 2021
    • 2020 Isolation Art
    • 2019 >
      • Untitled 2019
      • Focal Illusion 2019
      • Life in a bag 2019
    • 2018 >
      • See Something Say Something 2018
      • Gold 2018
      • 2y+2m+5d=38m
    • 2017 >
      • Islamophobia 2017
      • A safe person to approach 2017
      • Subscription 2017
      • Re-Building 2017
    • 2016 >
      • Autobiography 2015-2016, Diary
      • Untitled 2016 (1)
      • Autobiography-USA 2014-16
      • Untitled 2016 (2)
      • Untitled 2016 (3)
    • 2015 >
      • Structures 2015
      • Unashamed 2015
      • Remapping DC 2015
    • 2014
    • 2013 >
      • Re-Mapping the Wall 2013
      • Re-Mapping House 11, 2013
      • Re-Mapping the Office 2013
      • Night Shadows 2013
      • Remapping AlFahidi 2013
      • Remapping Africa 2013
      • Blue Freedom 2013
      • My Phone’s Diary 2013
    • 2012 >
      • Autobiography 2012, Diary
      • Autobiography 2012- Plate Numbers
      • Autobiography 2012-Found Objects
    • 2011 >
      • Women’s Circles 2011
      • Self Portrait 2011
    • 2010 >
      • Untitled 2010
      • Re-Mapping The Arab World 2010-2013
    • 2009 >
      • Life in a Bag 09
      • Biography 09
      • Word in to Art 09
    • 2008 >
      • Untitled 08
    • 2007 >
      • Imaginary shapes 07
      • Light of the Shadow 07
      • Autobiography 07
    • 2006 >
      • Life's cube 06
      • 35 Minutes 06
      • My Brain 06
    • 2005 >
      • Portrait 05
      • Four Probabilities 05
      • Vision & Illusion 05
      • Autobiography 03-05
    • 2004 >
      • Number & Lifetime 04-05
      • Ten Triangles 04
      • Line 04
    • Paintings 1999- 2018
    • Collage
  • Video
  • Press
  • News
  • Contact