Zahrah Al Ghamdi (Arabic: زهرة الغامدي) is a Saudi Arabian visual and land artist, as well as an assistant professor at the College of Art and Design at the University of Jeddah.[1][2]
Career
Al Ghamdi grew up in Al-Baha in the south-west of the Kingdom and her experience of domestic architecture there informs her artistic practice.[3] She graduated in 2003 with a first-class degree in Islamic Arts at the King Abdul Aziz University. She worked there as a lecturer before moving to the University of Coventry to study for an MA, then a PhD in Visual Art.[3]
Al Ghamdi's artistic practice centres around large-scale pieces inspired and driven by women's experiences of life and craft in the home. In 2017, al Ghamdi created a site-specific land art installation in the Great Court at the British Museum, covering 30 square metres with a village of sand and memory.[4] As part of the Shubbak Festival, al Ghamdi took part in discussion about women's art from Saudi Arabia.[5]
In 2019, she was selected to represent Saudi Arabia at the 58th Venice Biennale. The Saudi pavilion was curated by Prof. Eiman Elgibreen.[6] The installation was made up of 52,000 pieces of re-worked leather inspired by organic forms, her home in Al-Baha and Aseeri ornaments. The exhibition, After Illusion, took its title from a sixth-century poem by Zuhayr bin Abī Sūlmā. All their work bridges poetics and domestic landscapes.[7]
Desert X Arts Biennial chose al Ghamdi as one its artists for installations in Al-'Ula in 2020.[8] Her installation was made up of 6000 date tins, placed in the land to reflect the idea and movement of a river.[9]
Exhibitions
Al Ghamdi has exhibited widely in the middle-east and in Europe, at venues including:
- 2015 - An Inaminate Village - Alserkal Avenue[10]
- 2017 - Shift - Women Artists from Saudi Arabia - Shubbak Festival, London[11]
- 2017 - The Labyrinth & Time - Saudi Arts Council[12]
- 2019 - After Illusion - 58th Venice Biennale[13]
- 2019 - Mycelium Running - Jameel Arts Centre[14]
- 2019 - Streams Move Oceans - Athr Gallery, Jeddah[15]
- 2020 - Glimpses of the Past - Desert X, Al-'Ula[16]