"Radical Grounds," Yacoub's solo show at Marfa' gallery, is mainly comprised of photographs focused, literally, on the ground.
Photography in the conventional sense isn't the point of Yacoub's show. The images, taken between 1990 and 2012, were shot on a variety of different cameras.
Yacoub has not provided any caption information.
Yacoub has long photographed apparently benign scenes that may contain an inherent, perhaps imperceptible threat. Her series "Summer 88," for instance, shows images of a still dangerous Civil War Beirut, focusing on old buildings, overgrowth, in an almost casual or narrative way.
In "Radical Grounds," Yacoub reveals only that the images are taken in the Middle East.
Yacoub has chosen an extreme subject -- the ground -- to make her point, going back to the barest principles. Her images are the antithesis of photojournalism (there is no action), documentary photography (there is little information to elucidate matters for viewers) and conventional art photos (there is little aesthetic consistency).
This observation might seem entirely banal, since the default position for a photographer is generally to be present on the ground in a location and to take a photo there intentionally. It becomes less so when considering the risks photographers may take to get certain shots.
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