Ahaad Adulaziz Alamoudi is a Saudi Arabian artist who grew up in Britain. In this interview she discusses her religion, her heritage and what inspires her artwork. Growing up in the UK has greatly influenced her artistic concepts. Ahaad spoke to Stuart Russell B.E.M in January 2014.
What does the Mud in “Ana� (me) represent? The Mud represents human beings. In my artwork I want to portray the essence of what we are and our relationship to beauty. The Quran states many times that we were created from mud; we are this martial. A product mainly used for construction; we are reforming ourselves and the world around us, constantly pursuing beauty.
Like human beings in nature, my installation are somewhat alive. Through the course of time the mud will eventually dry up. The mud is habited in transparent boxes. The installations habitat will define how the mud is transformed by light and room temperature. Like human beings, or cells in a body, the pieces that make up the whole installation will die and dry up randomly.
Who inspires you to create? My mother is an artist, so I grew up in a very expressive household and art was the medium that helped me express. It defies language, and this helped me a lot when moving from one country to another. I create art to understand and find meaning in things, all of my artworks are messages I am expressing about the world around me.