"Thawra"
part of the collective exhibition "I Love You Urgently", curated by Maya El-Khalil, Jeddah, KSA, January 2020
Material: local red clay, bisque fired, then fired using waste material.
2019 witnessed an international
resurgence in popular movements seeking new approaches for the world. People
gathered together for marches in more than 100 countries as part of the Global
Week for Future, weekly climate strikes took place in Fridays for Future, and
popular uprisings swept Beirut, Baghdad, Hong Kong, Barcelona, and Santiago. Though
distinct, they share a common commitment to collectively rethinking attitudes
towards the environment, whether climate, socio-political or economic orders.
Expressing a clear message of urgency to change the world, they also articulate
a shared fear for the future.
Unlike earlier generations, these
movements are connected, informed and creative – they know that time is running
out. One of their shared actions is the closing of roads, whether through sheer
number of people gathered together or with the use of other devices such as
overturned burning bins or water canisters. Both practical and symbolic, these
gestures stop the ordinary day-to-day flow of life in the city. By blocking
movement, they create spaces for conversation and togetherness. Though these
actions are disruptive in the short term, they are intended to draw attention
to the more significant long term shifts and changes that will take place if
our attitudes do not evolve. They provide a stark and powerful warning: without
adjustment, life as we know it will not continue.
Made of clay, the work recreates a scene of disorder, stopping unconscious movement through our ordinary, unaware day-to-day lives. By re-appropriating and overturning common and unremarkable artifacts such as bins, the work causes a re-assessment of the daily structures we take for granted.
A natural material, clay is both an old resilient material still discovered during archaeological excavations, telling us the story of time, yet an ephemeral and fragile one as well – it can break into pieces and return to earth. By bringing together these two distinctive qualities of clay, the work depicts is both a historic and precarious moment in the story of humanity.
https://www.e-flux.com/announcements/306543/21-39-jeddah-arts/
https://www.thenational.ae/arts-culture/art/the-2020-edition-of-21-39-opens-in-jeddah-1.971152
https://thesaudiartcouncil.org/show-item/the-black-boxes-talking/
http://artasiapacific.com/
