Christto & Andrew

Liquid Portraits

The formation of culture is influenced by the interactions between three elements found in a society: the past, the present and the aspired future. Each of these scrapes brushes against or caresses the other to create new definitions of how a society would like to define itself at this particular moment in time. Similarly, Liquid Portraits forms a constructed image of Christto & Andrew’s experiences of living in Qatar through history, sociology and technology.

As jigsaw puzzles piece together to a form a visual image, the sedimentation of symbols within Christto & Andrew’s photographs reveals the effects of history, politics, economy and popular culture on the construction of contemporary society specifically found in the Gulf region. Using Qatar as an example, the artists use exaggerated colors, staged compositions and uncanny humor to highlight the constant development and malleable state of transformations within which Qatar’s multitude of lifestyles are nurtured and interact.

In the same way, scavenged objects are transformed into cement molds and regular people into models through photography to subvert and further notions of value, commodification and occupation. As a result, each object or character within Christto & Andrew’s photographs becomes a symbolic reflection of stratifications found in the Qatari society. The duo’s images, therefore, do not criticize but rather highlight two parallel dialogues — a local one and an expatriate one, which equally weave together this complex network of cultures and subcultures evident in most Gulf and MENA contexts.

Christto & Andrew’s practice evolves as a symbiotic process strengthened by a cross-pollination of their differing backgrounds. Christto Sanz, born in 1985 in the USA, received a BA from the School of Fine Arts, Puerto Rico, before completing his MA in Visual Communication and Photography at Elisava, Spain. Andrew Weir, born in 1987 in South Africa, holds a BBA from Universtitat Ramon Llull, Spain, and is currently completing an MA in Museum and Gallery Practice at University College London’s branch in Qatar where the duo currently reside.

Together Christto & Andrew produce photography, mixed media objects and videos exploring social identities, the media and reinterpretations of history. Previously their art has been shown in the Middle East, the United States, Central America and Europe.