SCENT OF JASMINE

SOLO EXHIBITION by MAHA MUNAF

SCOTIABANK CONTACT PHOTOGRAPHY FESTIVAL

MAY 2016

EXHIBITION DATES: May 5 to May 28, 2016

Photography is a way to tell a story and evoke a feeling. I utilize my camera as a tool to create imagery that awakens a deeper meaning beyond the obvious visual: an object through texture, a person through gesture or a place through light. My focus is bringing my subjects from ordinary to extraordinary.

Henri Cartier-Bresson said: “My Passion has never been for photography “in itself”, but for the possibility – through forgetting yourself – of recording in a fraction of a second the emotion of the subject, and the beauty of the form; that is, a geometry awakened by what’s offered. The photographic shot is one of my sketchpads”. My captured experiences are a result of observing my surroundings, allowing for the subject to evoke the scene and me to reveal its true essence.

For me, capturing moments we always speed by, and inviting viewers to take pause and contemplate a moment in time, is the ultimate sense of completion.

BIO

Maha always had an eye for arts; as a little girl her notebooks were home to sketches of fairy tales and places she would soon come to visit. Graduating as an Architect in 2004, Maha soon began her hectic career and longed for more "I needed a breathing window".

Experimenting with her camera, Maha saw the world differently through her lens, a world with no limitations starting with her city of residence, Abu Dhabi. Admittedly, being a female photographer in a conservative society was quite challenging at first but soon after; Maha took her camera as she travelled the globe and captured images from colourful India all the way to the Everest Heights "There are so many places to be explored and stories to be told".

Having relocated to Toronto, Maha is excited about starting this new chapter with all the photographic opportunities it presents, so far she’s been part of two group exhibitions and had her solo photography exhibition “Forgotten Memories” as part of Scotiabank Contact Photography Festival May 2015 at the Runnymede Library, which was very well received. She is now looking to do more with her photography, to inspire, grow and be inspired.