Hanane El Ouardani (1994) is interested in how cultural exchange affects our taste. She travelled to Kuwait to visit the first fast-food chain restaurants that were opened there in 1991 while US troops were stationed in the country during the First Gulf War. The first of these was a Subway restaurant, followed by a McDonalds. However, it proved impossible for El Ouardani to visit the still existing military bases, and therefore also the original restaurants. During her stay, the artist did notice that this war had hardly left any visible traces. The only remnant she found was an old deck of cards featuring portraits of (mainly Iraqi) military and government leaders, distributed among the troops to make them aware of the people they were fighting.
Today, fast food restaurants are commonplace in Kuwait. The people working there are mainly migrants, as the Kuwaiti refuse to do these jobs. El Ouardani drew parallels with the life story of her grandfather who left Morocco in the 1960s to work as a ‘guest labourer’ in the Netherlands.
At Prospects the artist is showing photographs she made of migrant workers in Kuwait. Patches of light on the prints allude to the burning sun. After all, it wasn’t easy to photograph in this hottest place on earth, where almost everything can be reached by car which renders spontaneous encounters nearly impossible. Chains that were once considered exotic in Kuwait now only exist thanks to employees who are seen as outsiders. El Ouardani depicts them as human beings first.
Text: Jorne Vriens
Translation from Dutch to English: Marie Louise Schoondergang