Mustafah Abdulaziz: Water

Mustafah Abdulaziz: Water

Artist and photographer Mustafah Abdulaziz began producing his photographic study on water in 2011. With support from the United Nations, WaterAid, and other organizations, Abdulaziz has since visited fourteen countries in his ongoing pursuit to track issues of water across the globe. Drawing focus on humanity’s relationship with water, the artist creates photographs that reveal the complexities of our behavior towards the most vital resource for life on earth.

In order to maintain clarity in a project that continues to grow, Abdulaziz approaches the series in chapters, divided both thematically and geographically. In Somalia, for instance, the artist focuses on water access in areas of scarcity. In Iceland, he explores the vast coastline, making images of water in its natural form. In this exhibition, we see the artist’s work from California and Nevada, where he looks closely at how people interact with the resource in areas that are prone to drought. Using a 6x7 film camera, he documents the landscape, its inhabitants, and their use of water in regions often affected by water shortage. Working both on the ground and from the air, Abdulaziz strikes a balance between images that depict places where water is stored and used in vast quantities, and images that offer scenes from more intimate, day-to-day interactions with water. He uses these images—often offbeat or visually disorienting—to ask larger questions about our collective and personal relationship with water. Choosing to avoid a didactic approach to the topic, Abdulaziz instead produces skillfully rendered images that encourage a greater awareness of the use, misuse, and collective mindset towards a resource that is vital to sustain and connect humanity on a global scale.

Born in New York City, Mustafah Abdulaziz currently lives and works in Berlin, Germany. His work has been featured in numerous publications, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker, TIME, and The Guardian. In 2012, Abdulaziz was named one of PDN’s 30 New and Emerging Photographers to Watch. His work has been exhibited internationally at galleries, museums, and public spaces including Strandvägen in Stockholm, The Scoop in London, Brooklyn Bridge Park in New York City, König Galerie in Berlin, and the National Geographic Museum in Washington, D.C.

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