Six Solo Exhibitions: SUHA SHOMAN, CHARIF BENHELIMA, SANTIAGO FORERO, MARTIN ZET, ED WILSON, & ELLIOT WOLFSON

FotoFest 2010

SUHA SHOMAN (PALESTINE)

Two films Bayyaratina and Stop For God’s Sake about Palestine by noted artist Suha Shoman deal with critical issues concerning the Israeli occupation of her homeland.

Suha Shoman was born in Jerusalem in 1944. Shoman lived in Egypt, Beirut and Paris where she read Law at the University Saint Joseph (Beirut) and the University of Paris, Faculty of Law, Pantheon. Shoman moved to Jordan in 1974 and in 1976, Shoman joined the Fahrelnissa Zeid Institute of Fine Arts. She is the founder and the director of Darat al-Funun in Amman, a gallery and visual resources center library dedicated to the stimulation of the visual arts in the Arab world. She is also the member of the board of trustees of the Khalid Shoman Foundation, Amman, Jordan.

CHARIF BENHELIMA (BELGIUM)

Charif Benhelima’s photographic project, Welcome to Belgium, illuminates the plight of Arab immigrants in Europe. An essay by noted Belgium painter, Luc Tuymans, describes Charif’s project as “a testimony, beginning at the beginning and covering a research period lasting nine years.”

Charif Benhelima was born in Brussels, Belgium in 1967. He is a Belgian photo-artist who lives and works in Antwerp, Belgium. Benhelima received Master of Fine Arts from the Higher Institute Sint Lucas, Brussels, Belgium in 1995 and Laureate at the Higher Institute for Fine Arts, Antwerp, Belgium between 1995 and 1998. He completed Documentary Photography program at the International Center of Photography, New York in 2000. He participated in Cite Internationale des Arts, Paris, France in 2003, the Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin, Germany in 2005 and the Bag Factory, Johannesburg, South Africa in 2009.

SANTIAGO FORERO (COLOMBIA)

Santiago Forero presents a singularly perceptive perspective on life in the United States through his cryptic photographs. Santiago is a graduate student from Colombia attending the University of Texas.

Santiago Forero was born and raised in Bogotá, Colombia. He studied Visual Arts at Pontificia Universidad Javeriena and received his B.F.A. in 2005. He is currently enrolled in the M.F.A. Studio Art program with a concentration in photography at The University of Texas in Austin.

MARTIN ZET (CZECH REPUBLIC)

Saluto Romano by Czech artist Martin Zet is a series of photographs portraying himself as an object within various environments. This is his ongoing attempt to find freedom and his true identity in a post-communist world.

Martin Zet was born in Czechoslovakia in 1959. He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague from 1979-1985. He lives and works in LIBUŠÍN, Czech Republic.

ED WILSON (TEXAS)

Houston artist Ed Wilson’s steel sculptures are based on photographs that he took of concentration camps in Germany. They convey moral outrage at the same time as they represent his powerful sculptural identity. His photographs will be exhibited along with his sculptures.

Ed Wilson was born in 1953. He received Bachelor of Fine Arts from Louisiana State University in 1979 and Master of Fine Arts from University of Houston in 1984. Wilson currently lives and works in Houston, Texas.