PARIS: Mohammad Alfaraj was born in the world’s largest desert oasis — Al-Ahsa — in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. He is the son and grandson of date farmers.  

The 31-year-old artist was one of the participating artists in the AlUla Artist Residency in 2021, and is now showing the results of that residency for the first time as part of the “Orbis Tertius” exhibition at the Art Basel Paris international art fair, which opened Oct. 18 in Paris’ newly restored Grand Palais.  

He describes himself as “an artist and a poet — a poet of visuals.” 

“I was talking with one of the other AlUla Residency artists about this, and we agreed that both of us try to encapsulate poems and poetry into objects, poems that you can hold, and touch and feel, and smell,” Alfaraj tells Arab News. 

His route to becoming an artist wasn’t a straightforward one. He studied Applied Mechanical Engineering at King Fahad University of Petroleum and Minerals in Dhahran. “When I began my studies in 2011, there wasn’t much focus on filmmaking or photography in Saudi, and they were what interested me. But it was beautiful, because understanding how things work and how to build them is a relevant subject for a curious mind. One of my favorite courses was Mechanics of Materials. I learned that everything is alive, even inanimate objects emit a vibration, an energy. I wanted to complete my degree, but also to pursue my career as an artist,” he explains.  

His agricultural background has also inspired his work. 

“Growing up on a farm, it’s deeply ingrained to reuse everything we find around us,” he says. “We don’t call it ecology, we call it resources; there is no waste, no excess, nothing gets thrown away. A bird builds its nest from the things it finds lying around, bits of straw, bits of plastic. I call that ‘honestly built.’” 

A bird is the central focus of one of Alfaraj’s Art Basel installations, “The Date Fruit of Knowledge.” The stop-motion film, with narration over the top, was drawn in the sand of the palm groves of AlUla.  

“It’s the story of a little nightingale who’s trying to get all the knowledge of the world. He’s impatient; he wants everything immediately. Someone tells him the legend, ‘Each palm tree produces one date that holds all the knowledge of the world.’ So he finds a palm tree and eats every single date that it produces to hit that one date. He becomes obsessed, he wants to stop, but he cannot, he’s driven by that greed for knowledge,” Alfaraj says. 

“Finally — finally — he finds the date! And he knows everything, what is, what was, what will be. The problem is, when he knows everything, he knows everything — the good things he cannot enjoy, and the horrific things he cannot change — so this blessing becomes a curse. So the film is about this idea of getting things slowly, with time, and really experiencing the journey of life rather than instantly reaching your destination. Of course, it’s inspired by stories from the Qur’an, religious parables, folklore and mythologies around the world, so everybody can connect with it in some way,” he adds. “The ‘nightingale’ in the film is made out of dates, and he eats so many dates he almost dies. What I want to say by this is that our destruction could be by our own hands, but our salvation could be by our own hands too.”   

The film is presented at Art Basel against a backdrop of Alfaraj’s illustrations, and palm fronds are placed in front of the screen in the shape of a bird’s wings.  

“The paper (for the illustrations) is made from waste palm, the ink is also made from palm leaves, so the whole work is made from things that are normally discarded,” Alfaraj explains. “I like finding objects, collecting them and turning them into sculpture, or finding photographs and landscapes of places I visit and making them into something new. I think that’s awesome — finding, finding and then transforming.”  

Alfaraj still lives in the place he was born, which remains a constant source of inspiration. Last year, he built himself a home on a farm there.  

“It’s just a simple rectangle with a bedroom and kitchen and a studio where I work. It has a garden with date palms, mulberry trees, fig and lemon trees. I have a couple of chickens too, now.”  

When he travels abroad, he keeps his carbon footprint as low as possible, even if that means staying away from home for months at a time.  

Since the beginning of this year, he has been preparing his next exhibition in Dubai in parallel to Art Basel. He says he told his curator that he wants to be known as “an anti-SS” artist. 

“It’s a play on words, which I always like. It means I am anti-style and anti-scale, because style and scale do not the drive the work, they are just the façade. The driver of the work should be the heart and the soul — and modesty too, humility. If the work requires a large scale, I’m happy to do that. But there is no reason to make it an objective to itself.” 

Another of his Art Basel installations — from his “Last Words of a Tree” series — is titled “From What Bone Will We Grow Back On the First Day of Eternity?”  

“I’ve used a certain part of a palm tree to make a sculpture that looks like bones, or a fossil, of a creature emerging from the earth,” he says. “I try to believe that with so much sacrifice going on, something great will happen, and hopefully, human glory will emerge; the evil and prejudices eradicated. So, I hope this work serves as an acknowledgement of everything that’s happening, but also contains a certain hope.” 

DUBAI: The Saudi-Italian model talks style, holidays and good and bad advice. 

Best TV show or film you’ve ever seen?    

I’m definitely a “Game of Thrones” fan. I’ve rewatched it more than five times. I love it. I also love “White Lotus.” I think that is a great show. I would say my favorite movie is “City of God.” 

Worst TV show/film you’ve ever seen?  

That’s a tough one. I would say “The Idol.” It’s not a good show, but it is, like, so bad that you want to watch more of it.  

Best personal style moment so far?    

I’m the kind of person that dresses for comfort. That’s my number one priority. So whenever I dress up, for, like, a wedding or for an event, it feels special. I think those are my best outfit moments. I wore a really beautiful, blue gown to my uncle’s wedding, and I felt very myself, you know? Very fairy. I really loved it.  

Worst personal style moment?    

I was a very nerdy looking kid. I used to wear massive pink aviator velvet glasses. Even though I respect my younger self for going for it, that wasn’t a cute look.  

Best accessory for a little black dress?    

It depends on what you’re going for. But, I think, even if I am going for something a bit more casual, a little black bag would be perfect.  

Worst accessory for a little black dress?    

The opposite: A big bag. I don’t see that working for me. But, again, it just depends on what you’re going for. 

Best fashion trend of 2024?    

I love how we’ve started to normalize mixing different wears together. Like, mixing elegant with casual. Some people like to mix formal wear with street style; I think that’s one of my favorite things I’ve seen. I really enjoy it. It gives people liberty to express themselves. 

Worst fashion trend of 2024?    

I do not enjoy chunky shoes. I might have enjoyed them when it first started, but they’re just not very wearable at the end of the day. That’s one trend that I don’t enjoy anymore.  

Best advice you’ve ever been given?   

Treat others the way you want to be treated. That’s stayed with me my whole life. And, recently, something that I really appreciated that I heard in a movie was: “It’s better to regret doing something than to regret doing nothing.” I think that’s really true!  

Worst advice you’ve ever been given? 

That you’re better off doing something yourself, by yourself. I feel like learning or asking for help is a really important skill to have. Like, you don’t have to do anything on your own. It’s a sign of courage to ask for help as well, and it shows that you want to learn.  

Best book you’ve ever read?    

“The Prophet” by Khalil Gibran. The second I read it, I knew it would not be the last time I read it. The book is so beautiful in the original language. It was written in Arabic, and it has been translated. The translation is also really good. I love that book. I think there’s so much to be learned from it. I didn’t want it to end. It was the type of book that puts you in a good mental state and I just wanted to be in that mental state for as long as possible. 

Worst book you’ve ever read?   

I remember as a kid reading really bad horror books. I would, like, cringe while reading. So yeah, I would say really cheesy horror books.  

Best thing to do when you’re feeling low?   

Well, you have things that help you in the moment and things that will help you in the long term. When I’m feeling down, I’ve realized that meditating and reflecting is the thing that will help me get out of that state. But in the moment, to distract myself, just blasting music would help me to block things out. 

Worst thing to do when you’re feeling good?    

Taking things for granted and not being grateful for being in that place and trying to maintain that state of mind. It’s like your health; when you’re sick, you cannot wait to feel better, and when you do, you don’t appreciate your health. 

Best holiday destination?    

If I want to relax, then anywhere by the sea. I also love Japan. And I thought Mauritius was a beautiful place because they have a lot of cultures there. Generally, though, it has to be somewhere really sunny, because I cannot stand the cold. 

Worst holiday destination?    

Anywhere that’s polluted. It’s just not enjoyable. 

Best subject at school?    

Languages. I was really good at my English classes and my Arabic classes. I also really loved — and I really excelled in — psychology. 

Worst subject at school?    

To be honest, I enjoyed studying a lot; it was something that my parents instilled in me from when I was really young. So I didn’t really have a very bad subject, but my weakest would probably be math.  

Best thing to do to ensure you have a productive day?   

Plan ahead the night before. Have some idea of what you want to get doneAnd also, start your day right. Meditating or working out just starts off your day on a high note. I’ve realized that even if the other half of my day is not as good as the start, it still feels like a productive day.  

Worst thing to do when you’re trying to have a productive day?  

Doom scrolling is the worst. That’s a killer of productivity.