Tag: community art

The Untold Edition — Phases of Planning Part 2

Picking up where we left off: I then made an event on Facebook so that people could share it and express their interest. It’s also a way for me to keep the interest going by posting as the event date nears. I had to think about how to make this exhibition interactive. Interacting with an audience is something that has been on my mind since before I began this MA. When I started to take art more seriously in my life, I made a Facebook page. Posting there periodically spurred me to create more and more art. So you could …

The Untold Edition — Phases of planning part 1

I’ve always known that community work is important to me. I think growing up with a dad like mine cultivated that in me. He’s an eye surgeon and his hobby is to host eye camps in the rural areas of Pakistan where people suffer from curable diseases like cataract and spend their whole lives blind. I watched him perform 200 cataract operations a day for nothing and then spend the weekend sleeping on the roofs of clay houses. He enjoyed every moment of it. I saw the looks on those faces when their bandages were unwrapped and they blinked in …

Artisans of Love

Artisans of Love

During my first ever tutorial, when art in Jeddah felt like a haze I was unable to penetrate, I talked to Jonathan about an art cafe I had discovered called Arbab al Heraf. It inspired a wonderful, artsy, curious discussion with wonderful, artsy, curious people and, you could say, it was the springboard for me exploring and understanding art in Jeddah. One of the things that emerged from that discussion was the idea that I could set up interviews with celebrated local artists. The stories that emerged would be a piece of narrative art in and of itself. Finally that …

The Day of Lists

The Day of Lists

Ah, Jonathan was right! This blog has the ability to just grow and grow in the sneakiest of ways! Like mushrooms! I mean it becomes like a juggling act between doing and writing. The doing comes more naturally and happens faster, leading the writing to lag and become a thing that happens more in the head than on the blog. Until one fine day you have a gigantic list of the writings that need to urgently be completed while the doings keep prodding you and saying, ‘hey focus on us, focus on us’. So, today will be the day of …

Visiting the Luminarium

A few days ago I heard that the Luminarium had arrived in Jeddah. Isn’t the name itself so awe-inspiring and mysterious? Reminded me instantly of the book ‘The Night Circus’ by Erin Morgenstern. Anyway, I took out some time on the weekend to go see the Luminarium and the first word I can think of to describe the experience is: mesmerizing. It was mesmerizing, fascinating, calming, stimulating all in one. It was a giant inflatable, handmade organism that glowed gently from within with flickering lights in different hues and colors and a gentle soothing rumble of music resonated within it. …