THE 9TH EDITION OF 21,39’S AMAKIN EXHIBITION AT ITHRA

THE 9TH EDITION OF 21,39’S AMAKIN EXHIBITION AT ITHRA

‘First, you must think about authenticity; art is not to reflect a mirror, to make art you have to find your own language, create your own symbols.’ ~ Abdulhalim Radwi

Abdulhalim Radwi, Scene in al-Balad, 1992. Oil on canvas. Signed in Arabic and Latin script, 92 × 122 cm. Private Collection. Al-Mansouria Collection مجموعة المنصورية

THE 9TH EDITION OF 21,39’S AMAKIN EXHIBITION AT ITHRA

‘The soul of an artwork is conceived in a sketchbook.’ ~Safeya Binzagr

Safeya Binzagr, Studies for Roshan in al-Balad, 1978. Pencil drawing (right), 23 × 19 cm. Courtesy Darat Safeya Binzagr. Al-Mansouria Collection مجموعة المنصورية

THE 9TH EDITION OF 21,39’S AMAKIN EXHIBITION AT ITHRA

‘Capturing silence with silence, despite the din of the world, people made of blood, flesh and thoughts…, wrapped by oblivion I see them in the streets, markets and cafés, and in the maze of the port, carrying their dreams into their eyes…Day after day, their dreams turn to disappointment and frustration to sadness and silence, then silence to solitude I see them in the crowd or alone capturing silence with silence…’ ~ Reem Al Faisal

Reem Al Faisal with Mohammed Al Shammarey, Souk Jeddah, 2015 (Unique), 20 × 30 cm. Private Collection. Al-Mansouria Collection مجموعة المنصورية

THE 9TH EDITION OF 21,39’S AMAKIN EXHIBITION AT ITHRA

‘I searched for my place, somewhere that makes me feel contained. I wanted to remove all the concepts, obstacles and thoughts that prevent me from reaching the desired place, to make way for something new.’ ~ Bashaer Hawsawi

Bashaer Hawsawi, Cleansing 2019. Red Broom, African Fabric. Al-Mansouria Collection مجموعة المنصورية

THE 9TH EDITION OF 21,39’S AMAKIN EXHIBITION AT ITHRA

‘The artwork is a surreal journey through Jeddah. Locations that conjure up nostalgic and mysterious imagery meet archetypal characters in scenarios navigating a dreamlike journey. A place where dead pasts are reborn, suggesting change is the only constant. Through a cinematic visual language as well as a hypnotic musical soundtrack, the viewer is invited to sink into a peaceful state of nostalgic introspection.’ Mohammed Hammad

Mohammed Hammad, Images from the film Yallah, Yallah Beenah!, 2022

THE 9TH EDITION OF 21,39’S AMAKIN EXHIBITION AT ITHRA

‘I thought that through time, I had got to know myself. In fact, my knowledge is a harvest of scattered past events from my place of birth as well as the realm of the future. It springs from the house in which we were born, where the walls were filled with my dreams and thoughts, and fragments from our holy book, folded and preserved between the cracks of its stones. It is this series of images that has stayed in my mind, and that always lends me balance.’ ~Asma Bahmim

Asma Bahmim, Wandering Walls, 2022

THE 9TH EDITION OF 21,39’S AMAKIN EXHIBITION AT ITHRA

Talib Almarri, Drawing with Charcoal, 2021. Digital photograph. Al-Mansouria Collection مجموعة المنصورية

THE 9TH EDITION OF 21,39’S AMAKIN EXHIBITION AT ITHRA

‘I selected the location because of its importance and relationship to me, and because I like the place. It’s changing, there is a lot of transformation going on.’ ~ Bader Awwad AlBalawi

Bader Awwad AlBalawi, North Khobar: The City’s Alive, 2021. Al-Mansouria Collection مجموعة المنصورية

THE 9TH EDITION OF 21,39’S AMAKIN EXHIBITION AT ITHRA

‘In my work I go to these places at the margins which tell the story of what is happening in the centre. The Digger is about what happens after catastrophe.’ ~ Ali Cherri

Ali Cherri, Images from the film The Digger, 2015. HD video, colour, sound, 24 min. Produced by Sharjah Art Foundation. Courtesy the Artist and Galerie Imane Farès. Al-Mansouria Collection مجموعة المنصورية

THE 9TH EDITION OF 21,39’S AMAKIN EXHIBITION AT ITHRA

‘Before and during the project I put on paper childhood memories that came back to me.’ ~ Taysir Batniji

Taysir Batniji, Home Away From Home / Drawings, 2016-17. Watercolour and pencil on Arches paper, 28 × 35.6 cm. Private Collection. Al-Mansouria Collection مجموعة المنصورية

THE 9TH EDITION OF 21,39’S AMAKIN EXHIBITION AT ITHRA

‘He didn’t know that his boat was actually my boat that I used to dream of, a boat that I could take to leave my house, my family and my homeland when I was young, eager to escape the misery and explore the world. And it is now the same boat I dream of to carry me back there as a child, embracing the playgrounds of my childhood which spread between the thresholds of our house up to the vast horizons. ~ Sadik Kwaish Alfraji

Sadik Kwaish Alfraji, The Tree I love at Abu Nuwas Street, 2017. Charcoal, ink and oil stick on Indian handmade paper, 30 × 20 cm (each). Private Collection. Al-Mansouria Collection مجموعة المنصورية

THE 9TH EDITION OF 21,39’S AMAKIN EXHIBITION AT ITHRA

‘The human body and its mind are spaces more so than a room, a house, or a country. A space can only become a makan once it is occupied and designated by the mind as a space where you are present.’ ~ Manal AlDowayan

Manal AlDowayan, Just Paper, 2021-22. Silkscreen on porcelain with jute string, 222 scrolls, dimensions variable. Al-Mansouria Collection مجموعة المنصورية

THE 9TH EDITION OF 21,39’S AMAKIN EXHIBITION AT ITHRA

Obadah Aljefri, Reference images for mixed media installation Impossible Selves, 2022. Sketchbooks and photographs. Al-Mansouria Collection مجموعة المنصورية

THE 9TH EDITION OF 21,39’S AMAKIN EXHIBITION AT ITHRA

‘Time is this ever-flowing force that moves all that is ephemeral towards death: both our lives and the memories we create.’ ~ Sara Abdu

Sara Abdu, Preparatory drawings for The Infinite Now, 2022. Henna on paper. Al-Mansouria Collection مجموعة المنصورية

THE 9TH EDITION OF 21,39’S AMAKIN EXHIBITION AT ITHRA

‘At the beginning I was just cutting the books and starting to weave; you could see the text. Then I wanted to focus on a specific topic and make works that talk about the artifacts themselves, so I took the text out. But I missed it as the text was part of the narrative, so I brought it back.’ ~ Catalina Swinburn.

Catalina Swinburn, Inanna, 2021. Woven paper from brass and copper displaced archaeological documentation on pieces from the Elamite period & archaeological index on Sumer civilisation from volume ‘Sumer’, The Universe of Forms, Malraux and Parrot. 180 × 150 × 10 cm (Unique). Courtesy the Artist and Selma Feriani Gallery. Al-Mansouria Collection مجموعة المنصورية

THE 9TH EDITION OF 21,39’S AMAKIN EXHIBITION AT ITHRA

‘My new artworks are responses to locations that I have a personal connection to. The drawings I create are not necessarily representational in the traditional sense, they are gestural, ethereal, esoteric – responding to sensations.’ ~ Badr Ali

Badr Ali, Notebooks and sketches, 2021. Al-Mansouria Collection مجموعة المنصورية

THE 9TH EDITION OF 21,39’S AMAKIN EXHIBITION AT ITHRA

‘I want to put everything together in a musical way. I cannot think of things separately, everything is connected together.’ ~ Hussein AlMohasen

Hussein AlMohasen artwork. Al-Mansouria Collection مجموعة المنصورية

THE 9TH EDITION OF 21,39’S AMAKIN EXHIBITION AT ITHRA

‘I once heard a story of a fighter pilot on a training mission above the Empty Quarter who spotted a structure emerging from the sand below. When the pilot returned the next day, the structure was gone, lost beneath the sand that folded over it like pages of a book reclaiming what once was.’ ~ Muhannad Shono

Muhannad Shono, Book of Sand, 2020. Installation, sand and resin with video projection, edition 1 of 8, 22 × 17 × 5 cm. Courtesy of the Artist

THE 9TH EDITION OF 21,39’S AMAKIN EXHIBITION AT ITHRA

‘I discovered that writing is where I find my place. Writing is the silent space between deep-rooted memories where I feel and live all the physical and non-physical places that I find myself in, all at once.' ~ Lujain Faqerah

Lujain Faqerah, selection of artworks. Al-Mansouria Collection مجموعة المنصورية

THE 9TH EDITION OF 21,39’S AMAKIN EXHIBITION AT ITHRA

‘The physical amakin are temporary, never lasting, what stays for the next generations are the amakin of the imagination.’ ~ Shadia Alem

Shadia Alem, The Princess Masra ya Raqeeb (‘The Ascension of the One who Observes’), 1996. Coloured inks and acrylic paint on paper. 42 × 30 cm Courtesy Al-Mansouria Foundation. Al-Mansouria Collection مجموعة المنصورية

THE 9TH EDITION OF 21,39’S AMAKIN EXHIBITION AT ITHRA

‘My work is very connected to the tradition that gave birth to it, but it also tells the story of that time in a different language and from a different perspective. I retain my voice when telling the story.’ ~ Imran Qureshi

Imran Qureshi, Story of Two, 2019. Gouache and gold leaf on wasli paper, 32.5 × 24.5 cm, each paper(unframed). Courtesy of the Artist and Thaddaeus Ropac. Al-Mansouria Collection مجموعة المنصورية

THE 9TH EDITION OF 21,39’S AMAKIN EXHIBITION AT ITHRA

Dia al-Azzawi, No One Leans Over, O Sweet Basil and other poems by Muzafar al-Nawab, 2014. Gouache and ink on paper, 47 × 37 cm. Courtesy of the Artist

THE 9TH EDITION OF 21,39’S AMAKIN EXHIBITION AT ITHRA

Ghassan Ghaib, Amulet, 2004. Muzaffar al-Nawab. Mixed media on card, digital print on paper, 32 × 33 cm (closed). Courtesy Azzawi collection. Al-Mansouria Collection مجموعة المنصورية

THE 9TH EDITION OF 21,39’S AMAKIN EXHIBITION AT ITHRA

‘I have a country no longer. I might not have had one, ever since I was born. I grew up there, fell in love, went to school, went to war, as those dead bodies in the Tigris swam with the fishes. I worked with metal, and did etchings. I used the many tones of the Earth to paint and draw, and seemed to have ended up in Houston, coming from Baghdad.’ ~ Nazar Yahya

Nazar Yahya Why? 2010. Mixed media, 57 × 43 cm (closed). Courtesy Azzawi collection

THE 9TH EDITION OF 21,39’S AMAKIN EXHIBITION AT ITHRA

‘My art practice is pure meditation for me. For the last 15 years my main focus has been on spirituality through the Sufi path of loving God. The colour green symbolises my love and tribute.’ ~ Aisha Khalid

Aisha Khalid, painting titled The garden of love is green without limit. Al-Mansouria Collection مجموعة المنصورية