Shadia Alem (; born in

Mecca Mecca, officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, is the capital of Mecca Province in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia; it is the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow valley above ...

) is a Saudi Arabian visual artist. She is known for her sculpture, installation art, and painting. She lives and works between Paris and Jeddah.

Early life

Shadia Alem was born in Makkah. Her childhood was spent in Taif, where she reportedly painted on doors from a young age. Her father was a calligrapher and her mother embroidered.

Education

Alem graduated with a BA in Art and English Literature from

King Abdulaziz University King Abdulaziz University (KAU) () is a public research university in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Established in 1967 as a private university by a group of businessmen led by Muhammad Bakhashab and including author Hamza Bogary, it was named after ...

Career

Since 1985 Alem's work has been exhibited nationally in Saudi Arabia and internationally. Some works are a commentary of the lives of women in Saudi Arabia, using form to demonstrate the anxiety that women may live under. Alem's work, ''Youm al-Suq,'' was selected by

British Airways British Airways plc (BA) is the flag carrier of the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in London, England, near its main Airline hub, hub at Heathrow Airport. The airline is the second largest UK-based carrier, based on fleet size and pass ...

to appear on the livery of its aircraft in 1998. Her 2007 retrospective exhibition at Albareh Gallery demonstrated the development of her work from portraiture, to landscape, to photography. She has also exhibited at the Kunstmuseum in Bonn, at Amum in Tennessee, in Istanbul as part of its 2010 Capital of Culture programme, and at the 6th

Berlin Biennale The Berlin Biennale (full name: Berlin Biennale für zeitgenössische Kunst, Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art) is a contemporary art exhibition, which has been held at various locations in Berlin, Germany, every two to three years since 1998. ...

Venice Biennale

In 2011, Saudi Arabia entered the Venice Biennale for the first time with Alem as the country's representative. Her work, entitled ''The Black Arch'', which draws on folklore, Islam and medieval travel narratives. The work was made of up of a dark cube suspended on its point over a sea of iridescent spheres. Visitors were encouraged to move around the work and the sphere represented travellers of all kinds. It covered an area of 350 square metres; its scale as an installation has been interpreted as a challenge to spatial order. The colour black was also key to the installation: as the colour of

Ka'aba The Kaaba (), also spelled Kaba, Kabah or Kabah, sometimes referred to as al-Kaba al-Musharrafa (), is a stone building at the center of Islam's most important mosque and holiest site, the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. It is consi ...

cloth, the colour of the silhouettes of veiled women and of the

black stone The Black Stone () is a rock set into the eastern corner of the Kaaba, the ancient building in the center of the Masjid al-Haram, Grand Mosque in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. It is revered by Muslims as an Islamic relic which, according to Muslim tradi ...

. In the same year, Alem was one of the artists chosen to feature in the British Museum's exhibition ''

Hajj Hajj (; ; also spelled Hadj, Haj or Haji) is an annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, the holiest city for Muslims. Hajj is a mandatory religious duty for capable Muslims that must be carried out at least once in their lifetim ...

''. However, 2011 was not just a year of achievement - it is also the year their mother died, 15 years worth of work was lost in a flood in

Jeddah Jeddah ( ), alternatively transliterated as Jedda, Jiddah or Jidda ( ; , ), is a List of governorates of Saudi Arabia, governorate and the largest city in Mecca Province, Saudi Arabia, and the country's second largest city after Riyadh, located ...

and computer failure lost five further projects.

Women and art in Saudi Arabia

In 2011, Shadia Alem and her sister, writer, were featured in

Vogue Italia ''Vogue Italia'' is the Italian edition of '' Vogue'' magazine owned by Condé Nast International. In publication since 1964, it has been called the top fashion magazine in the world. The publication is currently edited by Francesca Ragazzi and ...

, discussing their work and the role of women in Saudi Arabia. While Alem tackles gender issues through her work, her sister sees her writing as genderless. In Alem's work ''Negative No More'', the pre-and-misconceptions of Saudi women are commented on. This installation consisted of 5000 photographic negatives, none of which feature women, to draw attention to the fact that women have been absent from Saudi Arabian political history.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alem, Shadia 20th-century Saudi Arabian women 20th-century Saudi Arabian people 21st-century Saudi Arabian women artists 21st-century Saudi Arabian artists 1960 births King Abdulaziz University alumni Living people Saudi Arabian women artists Saudi Arabian sculptors Saudi Arabian women sculptors 21st-century sculptors 21st-century women sculptors 21st-century painters 21st-century women painters Saudi Arabian installation artists Women installation artists