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Jeddah Showcases Contemporary Work of Gulf Artists

February 10, 2017 - By Lulwa Shalhoub for Arab News

Jeddah’s art scene is seeing a rich flow of exhibitions and events that shed light on work from local and regional artists.
The 21,39 art initiative, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting art and culture, has combined a series of events that began this month and will carry on until May, with support from the General Entertainment Authority.
One of the highlights of the activities is “And Along Came Polyester,” which gathers the work of five women artists from the Gulf to showcase their contemporary work in solo exhibitions under the same roof at Athr Gallery.

Arab News spoke to the five artists about their experiences at the “And Along Came Polyester” exhibition.

'And Along Came Polyester' art exhibition opens

February 3, 2017 - By Lulwa Shalhoub for Arab News

 A Thursday night of contemporary art puts a refreshing end to schools’ midyear break. Young people and art lovers filled Athr art platform based at Serafi Mega Mall’s office towers as the artwork of five woman artists from the Gulf had them mesmerized.
The exhibition entitled “And Along Came Polyester” displayed the work of Saudi artist Sarah Abu Abdullah’s “18 Blankets,” Qatari artist Aisha Al-Sowaidi’s “The Shift,” Bahraini artist Hala Al-Khalifa’s “She Wore Her Scares Like Wings,” Kuwaiti artist Monira Al-Qadiri’s “Legacy” and Emirati artist Layla Juma’s “A Still Moment in Thought & Spatial Perception.”

And Along Came Polyester observes the observing. Here, five women from the Gulf traverse through the personal, and reference economic, domestic, architectural, nostalgic, and cathartic processes and fluxes within their work.

They themselves and their observed surroundings are a result of a singular discovery that affected their already constantly shifting geo-political, socio-economical and religious communities.

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It came along in abundance, and it had many byproducts.

The material and the immaterial of these byproducts have lived in cohesion and collision.

They have shaped the narratives of these landscapes, and thus shaped their women.

Layla Juma employs repetitive, geometric shapes to create rhythmic sequence and forms. In her work, these shapes and rhythms are crafted to conceptually articulate the ever changing architectural landscapes of our present and the imagination of their future. Her attention hones in on the points of intersection between the forms, speaking of both the fragmentation of human experience and the shared convergences.

 

Her recurrent, ruminating meditations consider the influence and impact of spatial arrangements. Originally trained as an architectural engineer, her graphic two-dimensional, geometric drawings evolved into three-dimensional installations and sculptures.