Zahrah Al Ghamdi

Hand molded burnt leather, stuffed with cotton wool, soaked and later hollowed and hardened, presents a mass of organic material, whose process of shaping is as indistinct and complex as its overall form. The presence of the hand in the materiality of Al Ghamdi’s installation is influential, as the pieces themselves are guided by the natural process of both the hand and the leather. One would be forgiven to approach with trepidation, as it is unclear whether these forms are alive or not, of animal or organic substance or simply unidentified. Their positioning allows them to take on a life of their own, multiplying in parts and responsively adapting to the environment they have been allowed to settle in, for the audience to explore as they dare to.

As prevalent in Zahrah Al Ghamdi’s practice.

Traces of lives, memories, architecture, animals, culture and a plethora of notions are continuously re-imagined byway of engaging in dialogue with the earth. The traces imbedded into the soil could be understood as something that undercuts a clear opposition between the presence of notions taking form and their absence. It suggests that with these traces, something always remains  to present narratives for a myriad of occurrences that had taken place.

In this work, the artist creates replicas of blocks or sections of earth that have been extracted from the ground. The work examines the sections as objects that bare witness to all time, and attempts to translate its contents, or debris, as fragments of a parallel language.

The particles are symbols that communicate the history of everything that has transpired on its surface, and deep within its layers. The particles of the blocks, and the sections themselves create a timeline of occurrences that are continuous and inseparable. The sections as a whole create a formidable yet harmonious body of work that depicts the earth in its truest form.