Ahmed Mater
Saudi artist and physician (born 1979) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ahmed Mater (Arabic: أحمد ماطر; born 1979, Tabuk, Saudi Arabia) is an artist and doctor. He uses photography, film, video art, and text alongside traditional techniques such as painting, calligraphy, and illumination to express his unique vision of the world – a vision based on his belief in the transformative potential of art.
Ahmed Mater | |
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Ahmed Mater in 2004 in Abha | |
| Born | July 25, 1979 |
| Nationality | Saudi |
| Education | King Khalid University College of Medicine, Abha |
| Known for | Photography, Painting, Conceptual art, Land art |
| Notable work | "Magnetism", "Desert of Pharan", "Illumination" |
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| Website | ahmedmater.com |
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In recent years, his country’s landscape has also become his canvas, with land art installations at AlUla in northern Saudi Arabia. Today, he is considered one of the most significant cultural voices in the Middle East, both through his own art and his influential collaborations with other artists and institutions. His studio in Diriyah, Riyadh, is founded on the principle of open access and education, providing a space for young artists to develop ideas and contribute to a new cultural renaissance in Saudi Arabia.
Ahmed’s art, like his life, is one of intersections, tracing the fracturing fault lines of tradition and innovation, heritage and globalisation, economic progress and community. In his work, he maps, documents, and analyses these changes, considering their psychological impact on the individual, society, and the world.
Born in Tabuk in 1979, Ahmed moved with his family to the southern province of Asir, where his early years were marked by extraordinary social and ideological shifts in Saudi Arabia and the wider region. It was a time of seismic change, when the oil boom and regional conflict led to increasing tensions between religion and power. The reverberations were felt even in the fertile mountainous region near the Yemeni border, where Ahmed grew up, far from the Kingdom’s dominant religious and administrative capitals.
Life and career
Ahmed Mater was born in 1979 in Tabuk in the north west of Saudi Arabia on the Jordanian border. He is the first child of Mater Ahmed Al-Ziad, a sergeant in the Saudi Arabian Army, and Fatimah Hassan Abdullah Aseeri, a calligrapher and painter of traditional Aseeri houses. Ahmed has two brothers, Bandar and Mohamed, and four sisters, Aicha, Jawaher, Jamila and Reem.[1]
In the 1990s Mater was given a studio space in Abha at the al-Meftaha artists' village.[2] He splits his time between the Saudi Arabian cities of Abha, Jeddah and Makkah.[3] He is currently in Riyadh running his personal studio (Ahmed Mater Studio) and working as a consultant in the Saudi Ministry of Culture. Also a board member in Misk Art Institute.[4]
Work
Mater's work has been exhibited internationally[5] and acquired by major international museums. Illuminations, acquired by The British Museum, is a series that combines explicit notes from his medical education with images of the Kaaba and a mosque, distributed as a collage around blue and black x-ray images. The work seems to ask the viewer if humanity is more than just the structure of the body.[6]
In 2006, Mater mounted an installation titled The Yellow Cow products,[7] a work that address ecological challenges of modern urbanized society. According to the artist, "The cow with the yellow color was used as an expression of religious heritage."[7]
His Desert of Pharan[8] series features photographs and films gathered over five-years, documenting the changes taking place in Islam's holiest city. Mater considers the unprecedented redevelopment of the Masjid Al-Haram, including a multibillion-dollar complex of luxury hotels, malls and apartments.[2]
Magnetism is a black cuboid magnet surrounded by iron filings to represent Hajj, Muslim's annual pilgrimage which includes the circumambulation of the Kaaba.[2]
Exhibitions
- Selected solo shows
2001 Landing on the Earth's Surface, Al-Maseef Culture Club, Abha, KSA
2003 X-Ray Project – 6th Saudi Malwan Contest Tour, Jeddah, Beirut, Sidon and Manama (Jun10 – Sept 25)
2004 Standing in Front of You, King Khaled University, Abha, KSA.
2004 Chewing (Mudgah), Almiftaha Arts Village, Abha, KSA.
2004 The End – Al Meftaha Arts Village, Abha (Dec15 – Dec30)
2006 Ahmed Mater Al Ziad Aseeri -Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia, London (May 12)
2006 Son of Aseer- Al Meftaha Arts Village, Abha (Oct10 – Oct30)
2009 Illumination, Art Space, Dubai (Mar15 – Apr 15)
2010 Ahmed Mater, The Vinyl Factory Gallery, London (Oct 11 – 31)
2013 100 Found Objects, Sharjah Art Foundation, Sharjah, UAE[9]
2016 Symbolic Cities: The Work of Ahmed Mater, Smithsonian, Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Washington, US[10]
2016 Evolution of Man at Standing Rock, North Dakota[11]
2017 Mitochondria: Powerhouses at GALLERIA CONTINUA San Gimignano, Italy (September 23, 2017 – January 7, 2018)[12]
2017 Ahmed Mater: Mecca Journeys, Brooklyn Museum, New York City (December 1, 2017 – April 8, 2018)[13]
Publications and monographs
2006 Word into Art: Artists of the Modern Middle East, British Museum Press[14]
2009 ADACH Platform for Visual Arts in Venice, Catherine David[15]
2009 New Vision: Arab Contemporary Art in the 21st Century, Thames & Hudson[16]
2010 Art of the Middle East: Modern and Contemporary Art of the Arab World and Iran, Merrell Publishing[17]
2010 Ahmed Mater (Monograph), Booth Clibborn Editions[18]
2012 Edge of Arabia, Contemporary Art from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Booth-Clibborn Editions[19]
2012 Hajj: Journey to the Heart of Islam, British Museum Press[20]
2016 Desert of Pharan: Unofficial Histories Behind the Mass Expansion of Mecca, Lars Müller Publishing[21][22][23]
See also
References
External links
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