Collectables, Ezz Monem

Collectables investigates the narrative history of found objects which have been left on the streets of Melbourne. Considering in particular domestic objects, which may be rehoused or repurposed, the project evokes a lineage of ownership, linking disparate individuals in a unique narrative traversed by the object. The images produced in this project document a stage in this journey and aim to capture the aura of these personal histories.

The project involves transformations between found object and photographic image. Initially, objects that might be collected by others are located in the street and documented but not removed. Through repeated photographing and processing, a layered image is produced which is then printed in the darkroom. This work is framed and returned to the site of the object to be freely collected by the public. Operating as a form of gift economy, these works enter the narrative thread of the original found object, while also initiating a trajectory of their own.

Follow the projects via @kingsartistrun and @ezzmonem

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Angela Glindemann

As Ezz Monem’s Collectables prompts us to see objects around us as ‘found art’, I sought to create an experience of ‘found poetry’ in response. This digital poem simulates the experience encountering an unnamed, unknown object, and then making meaning from it, as it is first perceived, and then recalled and revisited in memory. The poem is influenced by post-structuralist concepts, as well as questions about the definition of art, and thing theory.

Inspired by the use of found objects in the exhibition, I included within this digital poem many adjectives taken from local Gumtree and Facebook Marketplace ads. Using this tool, I stripped text from the ads to create the components of the poem. A random selection of these adjectives appear in the digital poem each time it is played, replicating the sense of spontaneity and ‘foundness’ within Collectables. As the poem unfolds, it expands to include an additional random adjective, taken from a pool of advertisements for second-hand artworks (also from Facebook Marketplace and Gumtree).

Like a found object, a found word looks different depending on how it is situated, and on the narratives that a reader brings to – and creates from – the experience. With an element of randomness, and an element of the viewer’s beliefs about what it means to look at art, a poem is generated, in collaboration with the viewer, and with the unknown owners of the second-hand objects for sale.

To read the digital poem, click this link. Then, click the ‘…’ or bold text to choose your path through the poem.

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Ezz Monem is an Egyptian artist living in Melbourne, Australia. He graduated from the Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University in 2007, but his explorations in visual arts began years earlier. In 2003, he began to focus on photography besides his work as a software developer. His work has been shown in exhibitions and festivals in Egypt, Australia and various other countries in Europe and the Middle East where he received awards such as the Golden Award at the Emirates International Photography Competition (2009), the Golden Award from Sharjah Awards for Arab Photo (2011), the Salon Award from the 24th Youth Salon in Egypt (2013), and recently, the NOIR Darkroom Most Experimental Image at the ILFORD CCP Salon (2019). He also had two recent solo shows at KINGS Artist-Run and Seventh gallery in Melbourne. Ezz is currently doing a Master of Contemporary Art at the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA), University of Melbourne.

Angela Glindemann is a Master of Arts (Writing) graduate living and working in Melbourne. Glindemann has written pieces for publications including Archer and Asymptote and recently won the Short Story Category Award in the 2020 Lord Mayor’s Creative Writing Competition. She is a current participant in KINGS Emerging Writers’ Program. 
Glindemann’s practice crosses many disciplines but often revolves around fragmentation, identity and language, with a growing interest in digital, interactive texts. Her work draws from queer and feminist theory, psychology, and postmodernism.