Ahaad Alamoudi: Sunkissed

The motifs of the sun and its intense heat as well as the sand and its pervasive orange hue often serve to represent and condense the Gulf’s complex ecologies and aspirations. This selection of recent and newly commissioned works by Jeddah-based artist Ahaad Alamoudi draws on these stereotypical symbols to examine how collective identity and visual expression intersect, emerge and unfold amid the region’s rapidly transforming landscape.

Alamoudi’s snapshots of contemporary Khaleeji aesthetics playfully capture the give-and-take between developmental goals and their real-world manifestation. Viral memes, talking falcons, automated toy cars and insect light traps all function as tools to process accelerating change; together, these works explore how the overarching desire for development is absorbed and rearticulated in everyday life.

The exhibition is curated by Amal Al Ali, Curatorial Assistant at the Foundation. To 3 May.

Above: Ahaad Alamoudi, Those Who Don’t Know Falcons Grill Them (still), (2018)