Mahtab Hussain
YOU GET ME?

5 May - 1 July 2017
LONDON: AUTOGRAPH

FREE ENTRY

Curated by Mark Sealy

Mahtab Hussain Mahtab Hussain Mahtab Hussain Mahtab Hussain

Autograph

Rivington Place

London

RE2A 3BA


past exhibition

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About the exhibition

Mahtab Hussain’s photographs explore the critical question of identity among young working-class British Asian men.

You Get Me? addresses the contested political terrain of race and representation, respect and cultural difference. The men portrayed in Hussain’s portraits identify as Muslim, and expressed that they felt culturally ridiculed by the constant flow of derogatory media representation of their lives.

The 24 portraits in the exhibition examine how the weight of masculinity impacts the subject’s sense of self, as they navigate the complex identity formations historically placed upon them. 

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Hussain photographed the series over a nine-year period in Birmingham – where he grew up – stopping individuals in the street and starting conversations as he took their portrait. He later expanded the project to London and Nottingham. 

PRESS

The Guardian
The New York Times
Vanity Fair
BBC News
The Independent

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Mahtab Hussain uses photography to investigate the dynamic relationship between identity, heritage and displacement.

Born in Glasgow, Scotland in 1981, Hussain began his series You Get Me? in 2008. Hussain’s work has received wide recognition, including commissions by Ikon Gallery (Birmingham), Multistory (West Bromwich) and New Art Exchange (Nottingham). His photography has been shown internationally, and reviewed in publications such as the Guardian, the Telegraph and The Huffington Post.

His work is in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (USA). Books featuring Hussain’s work include the monographs The Quiet Town of Tipton (Dewi Lewis Publishing, 2015) The Commonality of Strangers (New Art Exchange, 2015), and You Get Me? (MACK, release date June 2017). He is currently a PhD candidate at Nottingham Trent University.

Photograph of man sleeping by Mahtab Hussain

EVENT

Masculinity and Representation: Do You Really Get Me?



WED 31 MAY 2017, 7PM
Photograph of man staring directly at the camera wearing red and white shemagh. Taken by Mahtab Hussain.

Book

You Get Me? published by Mack Books





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EXHIBITION SUPPORTED BY

Sample Logo
Supported by Light Work

SPECIAL THANKS

Special thanks to Light Work in Syracuse, New York for supporting the creation of
this work during Mahtab Hussain’s Autograph ABP / Light Work Artist-in-Residence programme in 2015. 

Banner images: 1)Mahtab Hussain, Red t-shirt, baseball jacket, car, from You Get Me?, 2012. Courtesy the artist. 2 and 4) You Get Me? gallery installation at Autograph, London. Photograph: Zoe Maxwell. 3) Mahtab Hussain, Green chalk stripe suit, from You Get Me?, 2017. Courtesy the artist.

Page images, from top left: 1) Mahtab Hussain, Young man asleep [detail], from the series You Get Me? 2012, Courtesy the artist . 2) Mahtab Hussain, Shemagh, beard and bling [detail], from You Get Me?, 2010. Courtesy the artist