Nasser Al-Salem’s work is essentially the Arabic written word, therefore he is first and foremost a calligrapher. His practice pushes the boundaries of this age-old Islamic art by re-inventing it in non-conventional mixed media forms and by exploring its conceptual potential.
Nasser Al-Salem was born in the Holy City of Mecca in 1984. His family’s trade was tent-making and their business was located in the ‘first belt’ around the Haram Al-Sharif, and so Al-Salem spent the majority of his childhood within sight of the holy Ka’ba, helping his family sell tents to the myriad of pilgrims who came for Hajj.
He became interested in calligraphy from an early age and his parents signed him up for calligraphy classes, which took place every Friday in the Haram Al-Sharif itself. However, as calligraphy is not accepted as a profession in its own right in Saudi Arabia, Nasser received his formal education in Architecture at Um Al-Kora University in Mecca, and currently lives and works as an architect in Jeddah.
Al-Salem did not abandon his passion for calligraphy and continued to practice, taking part in community projects and calligraphy workshops and even winning a prize in 2009 in a Calligraphy and Fine Arts competition in Jeddah. He was discovered by Athr Gallery at this time, which supported the development of his practice and encouraged him to obtain his Ijaza.
Eyad Maghazil was born in Riyadh in 1985. He studied architecture at King Fahd University in Dahran and was an active member of the university theater club. He is passionate about film making and is currently working as a creative director for a new on-line channel. Maghazil is part of a new breed of emerging Saudi artist, who works primarily in sculpture and installations. He currently lives and works in Jeddah.
and here comes the lady artist from the suffocated land where women got less rights than camel
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Dana Awartani** achieved a foundation degree in Arts and Design and a Bachelors degree in Fine Art from Central Saint Martins before moving on to The Princes School of Traditional Arts where she completed a Masters in Traditional Arts. Specializing in geometry as well as illumination, tile-work and parquetry, Dana prides herself on using high-quality natural materials and pigments which she prepares herself and uses in all her pieces.
Inspired by traditional art and techniques of craft-making, Dana is particularly interested in the relationship between geometry and nature and how universal truths can be translated through art using geometric principles. Her pieces in this collection were composed using the traditional principles of sacred geometry and express the rich symbolic meaning behind the number eight in Islamic art and mysticism.
They not only illustrate the processes necessary for a geometric construction but also demonstrate that all geometric constructions originate and conform to a prototypical circle; thus, all lines and shapes no matter what size or magnitude have a common origin, a perfect symbol of what is known in Arabic as wahdatul wujud: Multiplicity in Unity. Currently Dana completes national outreach projects to schools and communities in order to further the appreciation of the traditional arts. She has exhibited her work privately as well as at Central Saint Martins and at the Princes School. Further, four of her pieces are included in the Farjam Collection, one of the largest collections of Islamic art in the world.
