In her recent artwork series titled “Tensegrity”, Ruba Salameh builds geometrical shapes using cold pale colors in an attempt to evoke a certain type of painting, which is celebrated in the western canon, from Russian Constructivism to the spirit of Bauhaus. Yet, this monotonous harmony is disrupted suddenly and in a rather unexpected way. Salameh introduces hordes of small chaotic ants crawling about in curiosity, positioning themselves around the shapes as if trying to jointly carry them away. Others gather in the corners as if stuck in search of their nest or are scattered around in conflicting paths. The ants’ existence amongst a group of geometrical shapes in an artwork can be seen as a form of resistance as their presence transcends being part of the aesthetics and brings attention to these creatures’ pervasive organic ubiquity.
In a sense, one can feel these ants as an extraterrestrial element imposed on the artworks to disrupt the neat symmetrical aesthetic arrangement, although as organic creatures of the earth their presence on a piece of natural linen canvas shouldn’t be viewed as disruptive. Salameh plays on this contradiction consciously, putting ants in the center of attention, despite their discrete existence on the canvas similar to their organic discrete survival on earth.
The artworks are inspired by the notion of resilience of an indigenous population in a situation where their own living space diminishes continuously as a result of an incessant expanding domination by a colonial power. Slowly, the indigenous population daily motions transform to a form of disruption to the supremacy of the dominant power, simply by the fact they continue to exist.
Ruba Salameh