Foam Fotografiemuseum Amsterdam Spotlights Rayane Jemaa's Is This The Middle East? Project
Foam Fotografiemuseum Amsterdam is featuring the insightful project Is This The Middle East? by British-Tunisian artist Rayane Jemaa. This work explores how the Middle East is represented in Western video games, challenging prevalent perceptions and narratives. Jemaa is recognized as a runner-up in the Foam Talent program, showcasing emerging photographic talent.
The project takes inspiration from video games like Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, released in 2007, which depicted contemporary conflicts. Over the past two decades, numerous games have used the "Middle East" as a broad, often ill-defined setting. Jemaa meticulously collects and categorizes in-game objects, such as vehicles, statues, minarets, and rugs, to build an archive of these digital portrayals.
Utilizing an innovative photogrammetry technique, the artist captures hundreds of in-game screenshots to extract and reconstruct these virtual items in 3D. Through this process, Jemaa reveals how the Middle East is perceived in the West, questioning the desire to consume a often-traumatic vision of the region. The resulting visuals often display the rough, "janky" outlines of early computer graphics, lacking the richness and nuance of genuine cultural representation.
This thought-provoking work by Rayane Jemaa contributes to an ongoing dialogue about the politics embedded in digital systems and how place and culture can be distorted through computational tools.
About the Artist: Rayane Jemaa
Rayane Jemaa is a British-Tunisian artist, visual researcher, and designer. His artistic practice examines how digital mediums like game engines, 3D scanners, and satellite imagery shape and distribute images of locations, often flattening or altering cultures in the process. Through post-photographic methods, installations, and print, Jemaa highlights the political dimensions within seemingly neutral digital frameworks. He graduated from ECAL in 2021 and has since exhibited his work internationally, including at Fotocolectania in Barcelona and Musée d’Art de Pully. His project Is This the Middle East? was also a finalist at the 2022 Swiss Design Awards.
This feature article is part of the comprehensive coverage of Foam Talent runners-up, with additional insights published in Foam Magazine #68: Talent.
To discover more about contemporary photography and other engaging exhibitions in the city, explore Musemap (musemap.art). You can find more museums in Amsterdam or view them on a map to plan your next cultural visit.
