Zahrah Al-Ghamdi is a visual artist who explores memory and history in relation to traditional architecture through the use of different mediums and assemblage in her work. Her site-specific land art installations display the laborious and meticulous manner in which she assembles intricate pieces of clay, rocks, and leather. Through the materials she uses and the process by which she creates them, Al-Ghamdi draws on the notion of ‘embodied memory’ to translate and delineate themes of cultural identity, memory, and loss. Al-Ghamdi grew up in the southwestern region of Saudi Arabia and later moved to Jeddah where she earned an undergraduate degree in Islamic arts from King Abdulaziz University. She holds a Master’s degree in Contemporary Craft and a Ph.D. in design and visual arts from Coventry University in England. Her thesis analyzed traditional domestic architecture in southwestern Saudi Arabia in contemporary settings. Growing up in that region, surrounded by traditional Aseeri architecture, has played an integral role in her practice.
Zahrah Alghamdi
Artist
