Artistic inspiration from the Edge of Arabia

Updated 10 October 2012
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Artistic inspiration from the Edge of Arabia

A Palestinian astronaut plants the national flag on the moon and then floats away into space. These sequences, based on iconic images from the US moon landing and Stanley Kubrick’s ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’, are at once startling and moving because they express both profound hope and sadness. The images, from the short film, ‘A Space Exodus’, are the work of the Palestinian artist, Larissa Sansour, whose name made headlines last year when the high end clothing company, Lacoste, forced the withdrawal of her shortlisted photography artwork from a competition being held at the Elysee Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland. Her work was apparently considered ‘too pro-Palestinian’. In response to the censorship, the museum broke off relations with Lacoste, the corporate sponsor, and canceled the competition that carried a first prize of £21,000. The story of the censorship made headlines across the world, and Sansour and her Danish husband found themselves at the center of a media storm, which proved both uplifting and exhausting.
The censored work, Nation Estate, which has since been developed into a futuristic short film, places the Palestinian people in a skyscraper, supported by the international community, with each floor representing a city — Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Ramallah. The citizens in this luxury development can move about freely, via elevators, (no checkpoints), but it is a sterile environment affording ‘freedom’ within the confines of an artificial construct. The skyscraper has views over the Dome of the Rock of Jerusalem — so the inhabitants overlook the real Jerusalem forcing them to face a painful reality of exclusion and separation.
Speaking from her London apartment, Sansour said she and her husband are taking a much needed rest after completing the film version of Nation Estate, which took nine months of intense work. Ironically, Sansour had wanted to win the Lacoste Nation Estate photography prize because she needed funding to make the film. In the event, the publicity that ensued from the ban raised her profile, and she was able to pour the resulting profits from sales of her work into financing the high end production film made in Copenhagen.
Sansour was born in Bethlehem; her parents met in Moscow where her Palestinian father was studying mathematics. Her mother is Russian and worked in radio in Moscow. Upon returning to Palestine, her father was invited by the Vatican to found Bethlehem University. The family home, recalled, Sansour, was like an unofficial embassy, full of leading thinkers and political discussion. As a child she drew instinctively and her father encouraged her precocious talent by finding her art classes to attend.
She remembers her childhood as ‘sunny’ but punctured by disturbing moments. “When I was seven I remember Israeli soldiers pointing their guns at me when I was walking out of school. It was frightening. I think what it does psychologically, and you can’t shake that off, is that you feel that not all humans are equal. As a kid that sends a very strong message — ‘You’re Palestinian so you will be treated like dirt. It becomes cemented — this dehumanization — from a very early age.”
As a Christian she recalled that religious divisions were not notable during her childhood, but that a different atmosphere prevails today. “I do feel that a tension is building up between religions but I think Palestinians are still united against the occupation. But what’s starting to happen is that religion has got conflated with fighting for justice. I think that happens when you’ve reached the end of your tether; where you are trying to make sense of things, and sticking to a belief is what makes people feel stronger in that fight. It really happened once the Intifada started because I don’t remember it being like this,” she said.
When she was 15, her family life with parents, brother and sister, was harshly disrupted with the onset of the First Intifida, a Palestinian uprising against the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian Territories which lasted from December 1987 to 1993. Her parents, in their efforts to protect her, sent her to boarding school in England, where she studied for her ‘O’ and ‘A’ levels. Her memories of this time, she said, are full of gloomy grey skies and a feeling of alienation. Those years sowed the seeds of an aversion to London which she has only recently overcome. She now loves the international buzz of the city with its vibrant cultural scene.
After returning to Palestine for High School, she then set off for the United States, studying art first in Baltimore and subsequently in New York, where she completed her Masters.
She continued her Fine Art studies in Copenhagen, Denmark, where she met her husband, a writer, who works with her on the film scripts. The couple, who moved to London three years ago, have a five month old daughter, whose joyful arrival has meant a shift in priorities.
Talking to Sansour you get a sense of a calm intelligence and a keen awareness of her Palestinian identity which shapes her art.
Her film ‘A Space Exodus’, is currently showing at the Edge of Arabia ‘Come Together’ Exhibition in the heart of London’s East End. Artists from across the Middle East are showing contemporary work using a wide range of mediums expressing powerful, fresh ideas. At the press preview some of the artists spoke about their work. For Saudi Arabian street artist, Abdullah Mohammed Alshehri, who comes from Riyadh, this is his first visit to London. He explained that his stencil image of the Saudi Olympic runner, Sarah Attar, had been seen by the Edge of Arabia director Stephen Stapleton, who subsequently invited him to participate in the exhibition.
Alshehri’s image of Attar running is an expression of his admiration for her brave efforts in the London Olympics, where she received warm applause at the end of the 800 meters track race. She came in last, but her participation was a first for Saudi Arabian women in athletics, and lights the way for others to follow.
Alshehri said, “I support her — I made this image in the street of her running. Some people liked it — some not. People are not so familiar with street art — it’s something new.” Alshehri said of London: “It’s very beautiful — so international — I’ve met a lot of other artists. This experience can give you inspiration and information you didn’t have before.”
Edge of Arabia co-founder and director, Stephen Stapleton said, “Saudi Arabia has an exciting arts scene and it’s very authentic. It’s a lot of really great local people taking initiative — artists, people setting up a gallery, or young Abdullah taking his art to the street.”
He added: “Art boils down to you or me being creative. It’s about people with passion and imagination. If you can encourage that, the rest will take care of itself. It takes hundreds of years to develop it. That’s OK, we don’t need to rush.”
He noted the initiatives among local artists in Qatar led by people such as Tariq al Jaidah, founder of the Waqif Art Center, and the new Qatar Arts Center.
The founding partner and sponsor for Edge of Arabia is Abdul Latiff Jameel Community Initiatives.
The exhibition features a striking artwork called ‘The Capitol Dome’ by Saudi artist and Edge of Arabia co-founder, Abdulnasser Gharem. It is a replica of the Capitol Dome in Washington; when you peer into the Dome you see that the interior resembles a mosque. This triggers questions about western based democratic systems being fused with Arab cultures.
Edge of Arabia is unique in engaging directly through educational programs with the local East End community where the exhibition is staged. This approach is appreciated in an area of London where after years of social deprivation a burgeoning arts scene has given a new lease of life to the once run down streets, but left many residents feeling excluded. “We’re proud to be the education partner with Edge of Arabia,” said Narull Islam, co-founder of the Mile End Community Project.
“This is probably the first exhibition that has really engaged with the local community. They have got the young people involved; that’s really refreshing. It gives our young people confidence to meet renowned artists.”
This view was echoed by local tribal artist and sculptor, Muhsin Ahmed, and graphic designer and licensed graffiti artist, Mohammed Sadek. They were delighted to meet Riyadh artist Alshehri.
“This exhibition inspires me because of the way people from the Middle East are coming here and bonding with each other’s communities through their art work,” said Mohammed Sadek. “They see our art work on the streets and we see their work in galleries, and it is really inspiring to see the two coming together.”
French-Algerian post-conceptual artist, Faycal Baghriche, talked about his exhibit, ‘Blue Globe.’ “It is a globe spinning so fast that you can see no continents, countries or borderlines. This is how I see the world today — moving very fast — with such intense circulation of people through immigration that we don’t recognize who is coming from where,” he explained.
Iraq born multi-media artist, Sama Alshaibi, whose family fled Iraq during the Iran-Iraq war, spoke about her work, ‘Vs. The Brother’. This video depicts on a split screen the images of a female aerial artist spiraling around on a cocoon of silk rope which gradually envelops her, and a young man spinning in frenzied circles, or donuts, in his sports car. At first sight, the young man seems freer than the woman — but on reflection both are trapped and circumscribed in their actions. “When you look at them you realize they are both trapped in a cycle of expectation — the man to prove his masculinity through aggressive behavior, and the woman gradually to withdraw into domestication and become removed from the public sphere. There is an equilibrium of grievances there and boundaries for both,” explained Alshaibi. Now based in the US, she has lived in Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Jordan and her work continues to take her across the Middle East and North Africa.

— Edge of Arabia ‘Come Together’ Exhibition is showing daily at the Truman art space, 81 Brick Lane, London E1 6QL, from Oct. 7 – 28.
E-mail: life.style@arabnews.com


Uncovering hidden meanings with Saudi artist Lulwah Al-Homoud

Updated 10 July 2025
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Uncovering hidden meanings with Saudi artist Lulwah Al-Homoud

  • The Saudi artist talks spirituality, geometry, and creating a new visual language

DUBAI: Despite her love for art, Lulwah Al-Homoud didn’t set out to be an artist. But last month her work — rooted in geometry, Arabic calligraphy, and deep spiritual reflection — was on display at one of Europe’s most cutting-edge digital art events. 

The Saudi artist was featured at this year’s edition of The Digital Art Mile in Basel, Switzerland, (which ran alongside Art Basel) presented by the Sigg Art Foundation. 

Her featured work comes from her series “The Language of Existence”  — a reimagined Arabic alphabet that uses geometric patterns inspired by Islamic art.  

“I created different geometric shapes assigned to each letter,” Al-Homoud says. “I kind of created a new language that cannot be read, but can be felt more.”  

“The Language of Existence” is a perfect representation of Al-Homoud’s work in general. “I was always drawn to calligraphy and Islamic geometry — we all see these beautiful (writings) and patterns, but we don’t know the meaning behind them,” she says.  

It was while pursuing her master’s in arts at London’s Central Saint Martins that Al-Homoud really began to dig into that meaning, studying geometry and calligraphy inspired by Islamic art and learning how they were developed over centuries by different cultures.  

Her path to that master’s was not straightforward. “I was always an artist inside — always drawing portraits and landscapes — but I wanted to have a career,” she says. “My family, especially wanted me to be a woman who has a career and who helps her society and all that.” She gained a bachelor’s degree in sociology, and — in the late Nineties — began studying visual communication design in London before moving on to her master’s.  

Al-Homoud began her working life curating exhibitions for Middle Eastern artists and calligraphers in London, something that helped her discover her own artistic voice. 

“When I learned about the sophisticated ideas behind Islamic art and geometry, I said, ‘That’s what I want to do.’ Because I felt that it was more of a universal language and it’s also where art and science meet,” she says. “I felt I wanted to do something with meaning.   

“I wasn’t thinking of exhibiting my work at all, but someone discovered my sketches and said, ‘Your work is great. You have to show it.’ And that’s where it all began,” she adds.  

Despite that initial encouragement, Al-Homoud says it wasn’t easy to establish herself as an artist in London in the early 2000s. Partly because people often made assumptions about her before even talking to her, based on her ethnicity and religion.  

“When I did exhibitions, they would come and ask me the wrong questions — they wouldn’t look at the art and relate to it,” she says. “It took time for people to realize that artists speak a universal language. Art really brings people together, while the world (wants to impose) divisions and categorization.”

While her art may have universal appeal, it is also heavily inspired by Al-Homoud’s personal beliefs.

“I (learned about) and met a lot of people in the art field who were using this calligraphy and geometry,” she says. “I feel this kind of art really reflects your spirituality more than any other, and this is the reason why Muslim artists kept doing it for all these years,” she says. “That’s why people say (that creating) it feels peaceful.”

Al-Homoud is also focused on helping the next generation of the Kingdom’s artists. She has founded an art center in Riyadh called Isdar, dedicated to teaching fine art and printing and to inspiring young artists.

“I feel it’s my time now to give. I had an experience that wasn’t that easy — it’s much easier now for artists in Saudi Arabia. But you need to educate them to be good artists, not just artists,” she says. “When you come to our space, you see me as a collector, as an educator, as an artist, and as a curator. I’m hoping to have a small museum in the future as well.”

Al-Homoud urges aspiring artists to be patient, and to be honest about their abilities and goals. And, most importantly, she says, “Stay humble. One of the greatest things I have learned from studying Islamic art is to be humble, no matter how successful or how big your name is.”


Jeddah museum displays 1,000 rare artifacts spanning Islamic history

Updated 09 July 2025
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Jeddah museum displays 1,000 rare artifacts spanning Islamic history

  • First gallery traces the evolution of ceramics and glassmaking from the 1st to the 10th century AH (7th to 16th century)
  • Second gallery highlights Islamic metalworks featuring intricately decorated items and daily-use vessels

JEDDAH: The House of Islamic Arts, the Kingdom’s first museum solely for Islamic art, houses a collection that spans several eras of Islamic civilization.

Located in Jeddah Park, the museum displays over 1,000 artifacts offering insight into Islamic values and the region’s cultural and historical heritage, the Saudi Press Agency reported.

The museum includes six galleries, each exploring a distinct facet of Islamic heritage.

The first gallery traces the evolution of ceramics and glassmaking from the 1st to the 10th century AH (7th to 16th century), showcasing pottery, a craft in antiquity that saw major development under Muslim artisans.

The second gallery highlights Islamic metalworks featuring intricately decorated items and daily-use vessels.

The third displays 500 coins from the Prophet Muhammad’s era to modern times, offering a glimpse into the economic history of the Muslim world.

The fourth gallery focuses on the influence of Islamic art on other civilizations and how European cultures engaged with Islamic artistic traditions.

The fifth presents rare Qur’anic manuscripts, Arabic calligraphy pieces and wooden tablets used in Qur’an memorization.

The final gallery showcases Islamic textiles, including pieces from the interior and exterior coverings of the Holy Kaaba and a rare curtain from the Shammi Gate of the Prophet’s Mosque in Madinah, crafted during the Ottoman era in the 13th century AH.

The museum tour ends at the library, which offers a wide selection of Arabic and English books on Islamic history, culture, and literature.


700 works entered for Dammam’s small-format art exhibition

Updated 08 July 2025
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700 works entered for Dammam’s small-format art exhibition

  • Event seeks to ‘bridge the gap between artists and the public,’ organizer says
  • Successful pieces to be announced on July 17

DAMMAM: Artists from across the country have submitted more than 700 works for the Saudi Arabian Society for Culture and Arts in Dammam’s annual showcase.

Now in its sixth year, the “Endless Possibilities for Art” exhibition focuses exclusively on works measuring 30 cm by 30 cm and seeks to deepen connections between artists and viewers by creating interactive display environments.

A total of 705 pieces from 235 artists in 25 cities were entered for this year’s show and the submission process is now closed, the Saudi Press Agency reported.

Youssef Al-Harbi, the society’s director, said: “This initiative seeks to bridge the gap between artists and the public by making original artworks more attainable and fostering a deeper connection between creators and collectors through deeper sensory and visual readings of artistic works.

“It also showcases the richness of techniques and diversity of artistic schools, reflecting the cultural and visual diversity of the Kingdom’s regions and their aesthetic uniqueness.”

The show built on the society’s ongoing efforts to champion visual arts and encouraged artists and collectors to find common ground through ownership, he said.

The society will announce which works have been chosen for the exhibition on July 17.


The Open Crate: Meet the women protecting the Arab world’s artistic heritage

Updated 07 July 2025
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The Open Crate: Meet the women protecting the Arab world’s artistic heritage

BEIRUT: What’s the point of owning a beautiful collection — whether art or collectibles — if there’s no proper way to showcase or preserve it?

This question lies at the heart of The Open Crate, a platform designed to help collectors digitize and preserve their collections. Founded by art specialists Amina Debbiche and Nora Mansour, the company offers an inventory and archiving service that catalogs everything from fine art and furniture to watches, books, and pens.

“People know exactly which crypto they have in their portfolio. But when it comes to art, they don't even remember the name of the artist on the wall,” said Mansour, a Lebanese finance expert turned art curator.

Debbiche and Mansour noted the urgency of digitizing art catalogues — especially in the Arab world.

“The thing with art, especially in our region of the world, is that it’s mostly held in private hands,” said Debbiche, a Tunisian art aficionado.

The privatization of artwork in a region with hotspots of instability makes the act of documentation a deeply political one: a means of preserving the unspoken victims of war — art.

To explain this, Mansour gave Arab News a hypothetical example: think of a Palestinian family in Jerusalem whose house is looted — if their artwork is documented, there’s proof it existed. It’s a map of what you own.

“It’s like our child, you know — it’s like having a baby together,” Mansour joked.

The child they created, The Open Crate, boldly and indirectly addresses an unspoken issue that has long plagued the region. Like any child, it has the potential to grow and carve out a name that its ancestors, and future generations, can be proud of.

 


US Qatari Sophia Al-Maria wins 2025 Frieze Artist Award 

Updated 05 July 2025
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US Qatari Sophia Al-Maria wins 2025 Frieze Artist Award 

DUBAI: US Qatari artist and writer Sophia Al-Maria has been announced as the recipient of the 2025 Frieze Artist Award, one of the art world’s most highly anticipated annual commissions. 

The award is part of Frieze London, a leading international art fair that will return to Regent’s Park from Oct. 15-19, bringing together more than 280 galleries from 45 countries.

Presented in partnership with Forma, the award supports early- to mid-career artists in debuting new works. This year, Al-Maria will perform “Wall Based Work (a Trompe LOL),” a live stand-up comedy show held daily inside the fair tent.

Based in London, Al-Maria works across drawing, collage, sculpture, film and writing. (Supplied)

The work marks Al-Maria’s first attempt at stand-up, in which she will blend sharp humor with her long-standing interest in mythology, empire and pop culture.

“In partnership with Forma, we are proud to continue supporting artist-centered programming,” said Eva Langret, director of Frieze EMEA. “Al-Maria’s debut stand-up promises a collective experience exploring vulnerability, creativity, shared anxieties and LOLs.”

Sophia Al-Maria, ‘Mothership,’ 2017. (Supplied)

Meanwhile, Chris Rawcliffe, artistic director at Forma, said: “By wielding humor as a tool for survival, Al-Maria not only provokes reflection but actively reshapes the cultural conversation … Al-Maria is more than an artist and critic, she is a catalyst for change, and an indispensable voice in both the art world and the wider social landscape.” 

Al-Maria’s proposal was selected by a jury of leading industry professionals, including curator and museum consultant Lydia Yee and the artistic director of exhibitions at Ikon Gallery, Melanie Pocock, artistic director of exhibitions at Ikon Gallery, as well as Langret and Rawcliffe.

Based in London, Al-Maria works across drawing, collage, sculpture, film and writing. Her practice is unified by a focus on storytelling and mythmaking, often reimagining histories and envisioning speculative futures. Her work has been shown at major institutions and biennales, including the Gwangju Biennale, the New Museum and Whitney Museum in New York, the Venice Biennale, and Tate Britain.