Photographer Yamam Nabeel explores reality versus perception in the time of COVID in new Brookfield Properties exhibition

Photographer Yamam Nabeel presents his latest photography series Stories in Colour: Waiting for Time in a free exhibition which runs until 11th February 2022 at 99 Bishopsgate in the City of London.

Nabeel recorded the individual experiences of more than 50 Londoners and Berliners during the pandemic, documenting their reality. Subjects were interviewed and photographed using a modern mirrorless full-frame digital camera and a 1960’s medium-format Hasselblad 500cm analogue camera.

The photographer shot over 20 rolls of film and over 1,000 digital images. Subjects include an Intensive Care Unit consultant doctor from London’s St George’s Hospital, who was dealing with the pandemic from the frontline and was responsible for the planning of the response for South-West London; a Canadian journalist and author who was kidnapped in Afghanistan in 2008; and a homeless filmmaker who was sleeping rough on the streets of London for the first four weeks of lockdown.

The exhibition addresses how perception can manipulate our senses during the pandemic. As Londoners were told to ‘stay home’ a new reality took shape for everyone, resulting in a different story for each subject. In this brand new body of work, Nabeel explores the relationship between truth and fiction, between digital and analogue, colour and black and white photography, and ultimately the relationship between reality and perception.

Photos appear in full colour prints from the digital camera, adorning the public space at 99 Bishopsgate. Each photo is accompanied by a QR code, enabling the viewer to view the corresponding black and white analogue image, displayed virtually alongside the subject’s lockdown story. This digital component further plays with the idea of reality vs perception, taking visitors on a digital journey that utilises the contemporary experience of sharing artwork online, whilst giving the viewer the notion of being taken back in time to a previous era.

Yamam Nabeel, artist, said: “From single mothers coping alone in the lockdown, to a bus driver with a big family and a grandmother who was shielding at home with them, to a successful businesswoman who created a neighbourhood collective, cooking food and delivering it to the vulnerable. From a barrister who was shielding to a young singer/songwriter who was signed just before the lockdown and was preparing to record her first album, to a Jewish Rabbi and a Christian vicar, from students, to a cleaning lady with her small business, to a single mum working in a supermarket, to a former UFC fighter, to an actor, artists, a comedian and television presenter, to students and many more; I wanted to involve an eclectic mix of Londoners.”

Caitlin Warfield – Vice President, U.K. Office Division Brookfield Properties, said: “At Brookfield Properties, we believe in the transformative power of arts and culture. Arts Brookfield, our global cultural arm, has been investing in the arts to enliven our spaces, including public spaces across the City of London, for over 30 years. Yamam Nabeel’s exhibition is now on show at our beautiful public space at 99 Bishopsgate, ready to welcome workers, residents and visitors back.”