Download - Y-oman.com

May 01, 2012 Issue 218OF OMANILEGENDSAND STORIESA moving arts extravaganza, involving 42Omani artists, went on display at the OmaniSociety of Fine Arts in Al Sarooj, Muscat,on Sunday, presenting art buffs with apanoramic vista of Oman through theirdrawings, sketches, paintings and flags.Titled ‘Omani Legends and Stories’, thevisual arts exhibition, is presented by theOmani Society of Fine Arts, British Counciland The Delfina Foundation in partnershipwith Bait al Zubair Museum and BaitBaranda. It is a culmination of nearly twomonths of work that saw the Omani artistscollaborating with Dillwyn Smith, UK artist,to explore Omani stories and legends withthe objective of communicating themthrough their artistic expressions.The artists were encouraged to develop apersonal narrative by looking back into theirfamily history and come up with answersto the question - 'What are the stories andlegends that have been retold throughgenerations within their families?' And theexhibition is a reflection of the creativeprocess of telling the legends. Each pieceof art is a personal story conceived anddeveloped through storytelling, imaginationand communication.Workshops held in the process led theartists to produce a series of flags, whichare flown together at the exhibition, as atestament to the fabric of Omani society andthe journeys and adventures undertakenby their families. To ensure authenticity,the artists visited sites where legends arealleged to have begun; where wall drawingsdate back 6,000 years. A storyteller wasinvited to come along and help the creativeprocess by sharing stories with the group.In the course of the preparation, Dillwynwas responsible for starting an Art Club inJebroo, with workshops taking place onweekends. Working with an Omani artistfrom Jebroo and with a local schoolteacher,about 60 young children created art worksthat tell their history and stories.Following the same project as the artists,Dillwyn introduced the theme and toldthem to go home and ask their parents andgrandparents about the stories that havebeen passed down in their families. And theresult is a series of flags with four childrenworking together on one flag and sharingtheir stories in doing so. These flags will flyin the Muttrah area where the children willbe able to see them from their houses.Further, to add a touch of excitement to theproceedings, the flags are being displayedon cultural buildings in Muscat – the OmaniSociety for Fine Arts, the British Council, Baital Zubair Museum and Bait al Baranda.The exhibition also features Dillwyn Smith’spersonal work, created as a response to histime spent in the country. His work takesthe colours of fabrics favoured by men fortheir dishdasha, the same colour saturationas that of light penetrating into and ontomatter.He has also been inspired by the beauty ofthe moon in Oman and has created a seriesof images taken in Yitti – this work consistsof photographs taken on full moon nights,juxtaposed with photographs taken at nightwith no moonlight.The exhibition will be on show for two weeks starting onApril 29th, 2012. For further information please contactThe British Council.19