Musallat

This series of photographs obeys a strict protocol related to the fundamental concepts of objective photography. I visited muslim sites of prayer (musallats) in Montreal and set out to capture the spiritual charge in these places in the most neutral manner possible. Unlike the high places of Muslim worship which are sumptuous ornamented and dressed in gold, these places are humble, sober and manifest a quasi-hidden culture practice that transpires in western architecture.

I oriented the camera toward the place the imam leads prayer. As a result the camera points toward the Kibla.
Kibla or Kabla means orientation in Arab. Literally it means “ in the direction of the East”. In the Arab peninsula, prayer was first directed toward Jerusalem to the west but was later modified by the prophet Mohamed. Mecca was instituted as the new sacred bearing. All Muslims in the world orient themselves toward this point whilst in prayer.In short, whilst looking at the photograph the spectator is looking in the same direction as the faithful. The tacit agreement between the photograph and the subject does not occur through the conventional face to face but rather through a similar orientation, a vector directed toward the same point : The rising sun. The analogy between the camera obscura sensitive to light and the praying subject oriented toward the divine induces a metaphysical approach to photography.

This work equally refers to the current trend of the world turning its attention toward the Middle East. For the past ten years we have been witnessing a new form of oriental leanings in the domains of geopolitics and the art economy.