Maha Malluh

Selma Feriani Gallery, London 
Acquired directly from the above by the present owner in 2012 

Condition: This work is in very good condition, some overall surface abrasions and irregularities to the wooden frame, all inherent to the artist's choice of medium. Colour: The colour in the catalogue illustration is accurate.
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Since birth, Maha Malluh has developed a strong spiritual and historic affinity with the traditional region of Nadj in Saudi Arabia. Exposed to decades of social and cultural turmoil, the artist took these memories and applied them to the objects of her practice, providing a narrative for the divide between the prevailing modernisation and fast-dissolving cultural heritage. She explains: "My inspiration for art comes from my country, a land of contrasting images and ideas. Good art… forces you to pause, to contemplate and think harder about your surroundings." Malluh would soon undergo her own stylistic shift. Her latest series explored the photographic technique of photograms, a craft famously indebted to Man Ray and the father of modern photography William Fox Talbot. Prior to this shift, collage provided a starting medium for the artist, gently alluding to a changing society through the employment of modern techniques and historic objects. Food for Thought  9100, is an installation piece evolving from her Food for Thought 9000 series. The piece is composed of two aged baking trays holding dated cream-coloured cassettes, interspersed with Arabic words made from bands of pink and yellow tapes. From the top right row, the pink tapes translate from Arabic into the words : 'temptation/chaos', 'shameful' and 'heresy'. The bottom row holds yellow cassettes arranged to translate one word – haram (forbidden). This three-dimensionality is built upon further as Malluh incorporates hidden audio recordings of religious sermons, providing an amalgamation of the visual and the sensory.

"I like to work with objects that are going to disappear from our life, in order to preserve our identity and our cultural memory. Also, I don’t see the point in creating new objects while we have a lot of waste around us. Since the discovery of oil, and with large amounts of disposable income, people have become trained by market forces to buy things because of their brand image. This has led me to think how brand names have helped to create a 'throwaway' culture in Saudi Arabia and in the world. What was once trivial may become powerful again." (The artist in conversation with Anna McNay, Studio International, February 2016). Maha Malluh will be taking part in the upcoming 57th Venice Biennial as part of a group show entitled Viva Arte Viva curated by Christine Macel.