There’s something strangely organised about Alex A. Naanou’s compositions: every detail seems to have been carefully worked out. Yet the everyday scenes of Moscow today that this young photographer captures are never been contrived. With Naanou, the only interaction is through his very presence: unable to be invisible, he ensures not only that his subjects fknow he is there, but that he becomes part of the happening, too.
Born in Kuwait in 1980, the young Naanou moved to Syria with his parents and his brother eleven years later following the Iraqi invasion, and a year and a half after that the family returned to Kuwait. As the son of a fashion designer and an architect, Alex grew up in a highly creative environment. After moving to Moscow, however, he elected to study computer science. Photography has remained his prime means of communication, though. And his dynamic, genuine and eminently tangible images convey all the situational comedy of everyday Moscow life, with a healthy dash of curiosity, a knowing wink and a telling nod to the “typical Russian” cliché.
Russian Stories: Alex A. Naanou
From October 26th to December 7th, 2012
Oslo8 gallery for contemporary photography
kunstfreilager
oslostrasse 8-10
4053 Basel Dreispitz – Switzerland
[email protected]
+41 61 272 5858
Fridays and Saturdays, 2 pm – 6 pm or on appointment
