TARIQ DAJANI
Photographer, printmaker, artist, freethinker
STATEMENT
“It is only with the heart that one can truly see.
What is essential is invisible to the eye"
~
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, "The Little Prince"
When I am drawn to a work of art, I instinctively know how it makes me feel. There is emotional engagement before rational thoughts of what, how and why.
Beauty and simplicity, celebrating the aesthetic, silencing the noise and transcending the mundane, everyday realities, allowing fragments of memories to feed into present experiences, exploring what resonates within... this is what I seek in art and image-making.
To have the feeling of the night, not to just see it as it is.
BIOGRAPHY
Born in the UK to a Palestinian father and English mother, Tariq Dajani’s early experience of life in Europe and the Middle East gave him a valuable perspective of cultural and ethnic diversity. An early creative interest in music and art later led him to photography and printmaking.
Over a period of 25 years, Dajani learned his craft working in advertising and design and on art projects and exhibitions. He gradually developed a style that resonated with the truth and emotion that he was seeking. Recurring themes in his work relate to identity, belonging, and his Arab heritage.
He has exhibited in numerous shows internationally, and has won several awards. His prints are owned by art lovers and collectors worldwide, and are included in several public and private collections.
A freethinker, dreamer and picture-maker, Dajani now spends most of his time working on art projects and tutoring in photography and photogravure printmaking in his ancient farmhouse studio in Spain. He combines creative interests with a healthy lifestyle connecting to nature and working on his organic farm with his partner and their family of Saluki dogs and Arabian horses.
WHAT OTHERS SAID
"There is a strange-making in much of Dajani’s work, a way of making perfectly ordinary things seem quite strange and extraordinary. Such work leaves the viewer feeling touched, moved, disturbed, with a whole complex of emotions, desperately wanting to know more.”
~ John Wood, poet, photographic historian & editor
“Tariq Dajani is a photographer and printmaker. He is mostly known for his poetic portrait studies of the Arabian horse and the hunting falcon. Beautifully observed and mastered, the work displays intellectual depth and emotional maturity. It is contemporary while invoking something of the European Masters.”
~ Barbara Rowell, gallery owner, Jacaranda Images
A FEW LINKS
"Tariq Dajani", Rfotofolio
“The Art of Filāḥa”, Collier Brown, Lensculture
"A thing of beauty", Matthew Teller
"Photographic Studies of the Arabian Horse", Horse Times
Caballo Árabe (in Spanish)
EXHIBITIONS
2022
The World is a handkerchief / El mundo es un pañuelo, Impact12, Univeristy of Bristol, UK
Gratitude, Cervantes Centre, Image Festival Amman, Jordan
Trees Stir in their Leaves, Alice Chaiten Baker Interdisciplinary Gallery, Center for Creative Photography (CCP), University of Arizona, USA
The World is a handkerchief / El mundo es un pañuelo, Ace, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Shadow and Light, Al-Mutanabbi Street project, Fisher Fine Arts Library, University of Pennsylvania, USA
2021
Retrospectiva: una década de reencuentro con el mundo árabe, Casa Árabe, Córdoba, Spain
The Gallery, The Gallery Building, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Agawami International Miniture Print Exhibition, Shikoku Island, Japan
III International Mini Print Cantabria, Instituto Cervantes, Bordeaux, France
2020
III International Mini Print Cantabria, Santander, Spain
The World is a handkerchief / El mundo es un pañuelo, Blackburn 20 |20 Gallery, NY, US
Drinkers of the Wind, Katara Arts Centre, Doha, Qatar
2019
Skin of the Print, Oxmarket Gallery, Chichester, UK
The World is a handkerchief / El mundo es un pañuelo, London Print Studio Gallery, UK
Kitab al-Filaha, Casa Árabe, Córdoba, Spain
Hikāyāt (stories), Jacaranda, Amman, Jordan
Shadow and Light, Al-Mutanabbi Street project, Liverpool Arab Arts Festival, UK
2018
Kitab al-Filaha, Impact10, Santander, Spain
Kitab al-Filaha, Casa Árabe, Madrid, Spain
Drinkers of the Wind, Showcase, Dubai
2017
Kitab Al-Filaha & La Alpujarra, Biblioteca de Andalucia, Granada, Spain
2015
Kitab al-Filaha, Jacaranda, Amman, Jordan
2014
El Asil y El Noble, Kasser Rassu, Marbella, Spain
2013
SAQR, the hunting falcon, Emirates Palace, Abu Dhabi, U.A.E.
An Eye for an Ear, Photography Open Salon, ChinaHouse, Georgetown, Penang, Malaysia
2012
An Eye for an Ear, Photography Open Salon Arles, France
2011
SAQR, the hunting falcon, Jacaranda, Amman, Jordan
2010
Playground, Lumas, Gallery, Köln, Germany
2009
Above Wadi Rum, Jacaranda, Amman, Jordan
ASIL, the Arabian horse, The Empty Quarter, Dubai, U.A.E.
Three Dimensions, The National Museum of Bahrain, Manama
My Name is Robot, The Jam Jar, Dubai
2008
ASIL, the Arabian horse, DRC, Dubai, U.A.E.
ASIL, the Arabian horse, Zara Centre/ Jacaranda, Amman, Jordan
Arabhästen, Galleri Hippo, Stockholm, Sweden
Skin, Galleri Z:e, Stockholm, Sweden
Art Abode, XVA Gallery/Harvey Nichols, Dubai
(DIFC Installation), The Empty Quarter Gallery, Dubai
Creek Art Fair, XVA Gallery, Dubai
2006
International Color Awards (Fine Art Category) 1st Place)
Mind, EURO RSCG, London
2005
Capture, AoP Gallery, London, UK
2003
03, AoP Gallery, London, UK
2001
John Kobal Photographic Portrait Award, National Portrait Gallery, London, UK
AoP 18th Awards, Portrait Series, London
2000
Landmarks, AoP Gallery, London, UK
1999
Edge, AoP Gallery, London, UK
1994
Freedom Now, Photographers' Gallery, London, UK