Working across printmaking and painting, Hatem Imam’s new body of work explores the quiet tension between the representational and the abstract, the real and the imaginary.   The works’ small scale and intricate details underscore a sense of intimacy that compels the viewer to stand close and study the scene carefully. Whilst closeness reveals one perspective of the works, however, distance reveals another – what at first glance appears as a magnified detail may in fact be a wide shot of a landscape. This multiplicity of experiences and interpretations foregrounds the instability of layers that is central to Imam’s works.   The title of the series, Cataract, suggests a dual reading. Derived from the Latin cataracta, meaning ‘waterfall’, cataract also denotes the clouding of the eyes’ lenses which leads to blurred vision – a condition informally referred to as ‘white water’ in Arabic (الماءالأبيض).   Wavering between monochromatic and colorful, Cataract is a reflection on the limitations of representation and the relationship between the viewer and the view itself.