A Closer Look at a Palestinian-American Photographer

Analysis of Art

Dean Majd photographed his inner circle for ten years, breaking men’s dramas in the process.

Each picture is the whole universe Difficult Ideasphotographer Dean Majd started out solo at New York’s BAXTER ST. The show traces the 10-year journey since the death of the actor’s childhood friend, James, whose community of skateboarders and screenwriters is at the center of the show. Through Majd’s lens, life and death are not contradictions, but a continuum where the darkest shadows are softened by rays of light.

After James’ death, Majd grew closer to his Queens boy band. The show captures ten years of social fun and culture in skateboarding and graffiti, as they face the dangers of their nightlife. Cop Lights continues with “wiza bombing” (2021), while the latest party is still alive “on the coffee table at 21-41” (2017) is about drug abuse.

Majd also explores the pressure of masculinity and the weight it requires. In “break bad (freddy flexing)” (2021), a thin man’s attempt to use physical strength instead shows his weakness. The softness in his eyes suggests a real strength beneath the performance. In “ivan crying in my room” (2021), an ordinary man cries an evil cry. The work is combined with “rissa (beaten)” (2021), a single portrait of a woman. Looking directly into the camera with a black eye, Rissa’s vision indicts the culture of cyclical violence against women, which only increases when men suppress their feelings.

Although many of these works focus on domestic issues, the personal are political; Majd’s experience as a Palestinian American is subtly woven throughout the show. In “dallas (phoenix ash)” (2021), an Egyptian man clothed in orange-yellow light looks twice in his mirror. A solitary, contemplative moment becomes a surrealist painting that depicts broader systems, including the impact of state violence on Arab communities and the internalization of that violence by men in particular. This image, like Rissa’s image, asks us to confront our commitment to such dangerous processes.

What makes photos come in? Difficult Ideas therefore affecting the way they were presented. Only with trust built and tested over time could Majd have captured such simple moments of those he now calls family. Many of her friends came to the opening in February, giving her gifts of flowers. These flowers became an unexpected centerpiece placed under the last image of the program, the image of Suba, Majd’s best friend who accidentally died in 2020, and to whom this program is dedicated. The flowers were wilting when I visited in late March, but they were beautiful. Above them, Suba flashes the most infectious smile. Even in death, he lives.

Difficult Ideas continues on BAXTER ST at the Camera Club of New York (154 Ludlow Street, Lower East Side, Manhattan) until April 8. The exhibition was curated by Marley Trigg Stewart.