Arthur Ross Gallery at Penn: Children of Abraham, an Abbas Exhibit
The Arthur Ross Gallery (ARG) at the University of Pennsylvania will present Children of Abraham, an exhibition of 66 black and white photographs of the monotheistic religions of Christianity, Judaism and Islam by internationally renowned Magnum photographer Abbas. The exhibition opens to the public on Saturday, November 21, 2015 and remains on view through Sunday, March 20, 2016.
Since 1970, Abbas has documented through his camera lens the “political and social life of societies in conflict.” This exhibition is the culmination of over 16 years of research and travel by the artist to record religious practices and their manifestations in all parts of the world.
ARG is the exclusive US venue for Children of Abraham, a show devoted to the theme of religion. Abbas will travel from Paris, France to present a talk.
Related Events
Events are free, open to the public and held in the Arthur Ross Gallery, unless otherwise noted.
• Friday, November 20 at 5 p.m.; artist talk: Children of Abraham by Abbas, Magnum photographer, RSVP: (215) 898-2083, seating is limited, and at 6 p.m., remarks by Vice Provost for Academic Affairs Anita L. Allen and ARG Director and University Curator Lynn Marsden-Atlass.
“My photography is a reflection, which comes to life in action and leads to meditation. Spontaneity—the suspended moment—intervenes during action, in the viewfinder,” said Abbas.
12@12: A Tasty Art Nugget in 12 minutes flat at noon:
• Wednesday, December 2, 2015
• Wednesday, January 6, 2016
• Wednesday, February 3, 2016
• Wednesday, March 2, 2016
• Wednesday, January 20, 2016 at 5:30 p.m.; lecture on “Religion, Art, and the Brain” by Andrew B. Newberg, professor of emergency medicine and radiology, director of research, Myrna Brind Center of Integrative Medicine, Thomas Jefferson University and Hospital.
• Student docent tours are available Saturdays and Sundays at 1 p.m.
• A panel discussion on religious tolerance is planned for Spring 2016. Please visit the website for details.
Additional support for the exhibition is provided by the Arthur Ross Exhibition Fund, Mrs. Arthur Ross, Mr. George Gillespie, the Hohns Family ESCAPE Program, the Patron’s Circle of the Arthur Ross Gallery, Campaign for Community at the University of Pennsylvania, Connelly Foundation, Dolfinger-McMahon Foundation, the Philadelphia Cultural Fund and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts.
The Gallery is located in the Fisher Fine Arts Library Building at 220 South 34th Street, Philadelphia, and is free and open to the public.
Hours: Weekdays, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; weekends, noon-5 p.m. Closed Mondays.
A series of related programs and events are planned through March 2016. Details are available on the ARG website: ArthurRossGallery.org Additional infor-
mation is available at (215) 898-2083.
Abbas is an Iranian photographer transplanted to Paris. He has dedicated himself to documenting the political and social life of societies in conflict. In his major work since 1970, he has covered wars and revolutions in Biafra, Bangladesh, Northern Ireland, Vietnam, the Middle East, Chile, Cuba and South Africa during apartheid.
From 1978 to 1980, Abbas photographed the revolution in Iran, to which he returned in 1997 after 17 years of voluntary exile. His book, Iran Diary 1971-2002, is a critical interpretation of Iranian history, photographed and written as a private journal.
During his years of exile, he traveled constantly. Between 1983 and 1986, he journeyed through Mexico, attempting to photograph a country as a novelist might write about it. The resulting exhibition and book, Return to Mexico: Journeys Beyond the Mask, helped define his photographic aesthetic.
From 1987 to 1994, he focused on the resurgence of Islam throughout the world. Allah O Akbar: A Journey Through Militant Islam, the subsequent book and exhibition, spanning 29 countries and four continents, attracted special attention after the 9/11 attacks by Islamic jihadists. A later book, Faces of Christianity: A Photographic Journey (2000), and touring show explored Christianity as a political, ritual and spiritual phenomenon.
His concern with religion led him in 2000 to begin a project on animism, in which he sought to discover why non-rational ritual has re-emerged in a world increasingly defined by science and technology. He abandoned this undertaking in 2002, on the first anniversary of 9/11, to start a new long-term project about the clash of religions, defined as culture rather than faith, which he believes are turning into political ideologies and therefore one of the sources of the strategic struggles of the contemporary world.
From 2008 to 2010, Abbas traveled the world of Buddhism, photographing with the same skeptical eye. In 2013, he concluded a similar long-term project on Hinduism. Abbas is presently working on Judaism around the world.
A member of Sipa from 1971-1973, then of Gamma from 1974-1980, Abbas joined Magnum Photos in 1981 and became a member in 1985.