MOHAMMAD AL FARAJ (B. 1993), BLESSING

digital chromogenic print mounted on card and board

59.7 by 45 cm. 23 ½ by 17 ½ in.

Framed: 63.5 by 48.8 cm. 25 by 19 ½ in.

Executed in 2023; this work is number 2 from an edition of 3 + 1 Artist’s proof.

Abu Dhabi, Athr Gallery – Abu Dhabi Art Fair, 2023  

Mohammad Al Faraj was born 1993 in Al Hassa, where he currently lives and works. His multidisciplinary practice spans filmmaking, installation, sculpture, writing and photography, each facet grounded in his connection to place - specifically his home of Al Hasa, a desert oasis with an ever-developing landscape that provides him with an ongoing source of inspiration. Despite its arid environment, Al Hasa supports the existence of multifarious ecosystems and Al Faraj draws inspiration especially from the non-negotiable dependence of people upon nature. To this end, the artist incorporates materials from his local landscape, such as dirt, palm fronds and dates. Inventive and intimate in his storytelling, Al Faraj encourages audiences to travel together through his constructed narratives that draw on contemporary social and environmental concerns. He holds a BA in Mechanical Engineering from King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals. He is represented by Athr Gallery in Jeddah and Galerie Mennour in Paris. His works have been exhibited internationally, including at the Islamic Arts Biennale, 2023; the 16th Biennale de Lyon, 2022; the Jameel Arts Centre, 2022; and a notable solo exhibition ‘Find Me Through the Fog’ at the renowned Al Moftaha Village, Abha, 2022. He has completed two residencies at the Delfina Foundation, London, and his films have been screened at the Saudi Film Festival (2015) where he was awarded first place for his documentary Lost. He was awarded the 2023 Hayy Jameel Facade Commission for his proposal entitled ‘The Face of the City.’ Al Faraj is currently researching and practicing in London during his second residency at Delfina Foundation.

“I am between this idea of traditional ways, like photography and cinema, and between the modern, contemporary and the freeing kind of way, which is to draw on the photographs and collage them, and put them together and cut out and paste and deconstruct and construct again. But I truly believe that it’s always coming from oral traditions in the way that our grandfathers and grandmothers, in Al-Ahsa particularly, wrote their poems”

The artist quoted in: Galerie Mennour, Mohammad Alfaraj - The Date Fruit of Knowledge, 26 June 2023, online