The Third Line // Booth D20
The Third Line is pleased to be returning to Frieze New York, exhibiting works by Amir
H. Fallah, Hayv Kahraman, Hassan Hajjaj, Shirin Aliabadi, Slavs and Tatars, Tarek Al-
Ghoussein and Youssef Nabil. The works are presented thematically around an
alternative narrative of portraiture in contemporary art.
Frieze New York, now in its third year, will
include over 190 of the world’s leading galleries.
The Third Line is presenting a selection of its
artists that explore the multiple notions of
portraiture – with works ranging in media across
photography, painting, collage, and sculpture.
In a time of vanity and self-absorption, the
individual has become obsessed with their
representation. With more than 130 million
people using Instagram to show the public a
curated view of their life – and other social
media showing similar numbers and
demography – it seems as if representation has
been solely taken over by individual selfperceptions,
shunning outside perspectives.
The booth displays a return to the notion of
portraiture, though not entirely in the traditional
sense either, which also prioritised the patron’s
vision. The works selected look at representation
and identification through the artists’ rendition –
where the subject adds to the desired portrayal
but does not dictate it; some take liberty with it
to weave fictitious narrative around renowned
personalities, while others illustrate social and
cultural uniqueness.
With a pop-up studio that he erects on the streets of Morocco, London, Paris and Kuwait, Hassan
Hajjaj creates a revival of African photography from the 60s and 70s, immortalizing his friends from
around the world and transforming them into larger-than-life characters. Amir H. Fallah questions the
tradition of classic portraiture and the influence of sitters, gaining greater control over the portrayal of
his subjects’ identities. Youssef Nabil looks at modern day society’s fascination with celebrity culture
and presents his account of the extraordinary characters of his models, artists, actors, singers and
friends. Hayv Kahraman uses the female body as a subject, and herself as the model, displaying an ongoing
exploration in spatiality, hybridity, socially coded modes of thought and behaviour, and gender
based issues found in diasporic cultures. Shirin Aliabadi presents a series of orchestrated studio shots
of hip young Iranian girls posing with props, wearing colored contact lenses, platinum blond hair and
vibrant chadors – aiming at capturing the aesthetic nuances that reshape and reinvent the identity of
the new Iranian girl. Slavs and Tatars examine the role of oral identity, through features and physical
organs associated with speech and communication. Tarek Al-Ghoussein, a Kuwaiti of Palestinian
origin, deals with how his identity is shaped in a context of inaccessibility and loss and explores the
boundaries between landscape photography, self-portraiture and performance art.