Tem

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Full view of all 21 jewels of Tem. 

Tem is a collection of 21 broadsides with 21 corresponding plaster containers. Each container holds an origami jewel, and each jewel has been printed with a line of poetry from each of the 21 broadsides. The reader is invited to arrange and rearrange the origami jewels into brand new poems. The poems in Tem take inspiration from pre-Islamic creation mythology. As Khadraoui explains in an interview with Destination Riyadh, “[Tem] ended up being an archive of figures and mythological figures from Arabian polytheism." Though more nuanced than English can convey, the word tem is Arabic and means to finish or to complete. This book object was printed by Container, a press that endeavors to transform the traditional book into an object to be interacted with. Tem was built in a closed edition of 25 copies.

Wided Khadroui. Tem. Baltimore: Container, 2017.

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Carboard box with black line design containing Tem. 

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The table of contents to Tem. 

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Close-up of the poem "Ashrah."

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An orange origami jewel with the lines "Look at me / Look at me / Look at me."

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A sand colored origami jewel with the line "These stories are all true."