Eros and Aphrodite
From the series "Prado Project"

A young man and a young woman embrace on either side of the twinned heads of two divinities of Greek mythology, Aphrodite and her son, Eros (Roman copies, about 35 B.C.E., Prado Museum, Madrid). Aphrodite is the goddess of love, and Eros incarnates beauty, love, pleasure and procreation. Adad Hannah depicts the ultimate fantasy – kissing two of the most desirable deities of Olympus – re-imagining the universal dream of sculptures coming to life. His interpretations of ancient sculpture link the present and the past in an image that combines the classical ideal of beauty with the concept of gender. Museums inspire the artist who juxtaposes people and artworks in interaction. Exploring the dichotomy between photography and video, through these silent and static shoots, he captures soundless and motionlessness “actors.” These silent and still videos provide an unsettling experience for viewers: we assume we are looking at photographs, but then we notice that the actors are breathing, twitching and blinking. Hannah’s artistic practice revitalizes the nineteenth-century tradition of tableaux vivants.