Justin Marozzi

Brushes with strangers

issue 12 May 2007

There are probably better ways to welcome tourists to your country than with the words, ‘Go home England. Bastards.’ To their credit, Henry Hemming and his travelling companion Al, both suspected by the Slovak border guards of being Islamic extremists and denied entry, do not go home. With a retaliatory cry of, ‘Go home Slovakia. Bastards,’ they drive away in their beloved truck Yasmine and the journey continues.

And it is quite a journey. Fresh from university, the two fledgling artists travel through Turkey, Iran, Oman, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Israel and Iraq. Their mission: ‘an artistic expedition to the heart of the Islamic world in order to alter Western stereotypes of the region.’ Like many such lofty ambitions, the objective soon succumbs to reality along the way and the journey becomes instead a more introspective story of self-discovery.

Penniless, as all young artists should be, the pair must put on exhibitions wherever they can.

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