1986–present
Hmoud Al-Attawi
Hmoud Al-Attawi (born 1986) works in sculpture, installation, printmaking and photography. For his project “Maze of Delusion” he used about 800 concrete barriers that had once been set up as protection against terrorist threats. His work “Al Nourhah Pillars” (2021) was shown at the Diriyah Biennale. In 2016 he co-founded Wasm Studio in Riyadh with Saad Howede.
Biography
The best known of Al-Attawi’s works that I can point to is made from a material people in Riyadh saw in the streets: concrete barriers, once put up as protection against terrorist threats. For the installation “Maze of Delusion” he took about 800 such blocks. From them he built a maze that tells the story of the city and how it has changed, in the language of contemporary art.
Al-Attawi was born in 1986 in Saudi Arabia. Nothing is known about his studies or first exhibitions, so there is nothing to say about his early years.
He works in several techniques: sculpture, installation, printmaking and photography. His works include “Blind Ants” and “Connection” (2019). In “Connection” sacred symbolism is joined with modern technology; to my mind that is enough to show where he is looking: he is interested in how faith and technology can live together in a single object. I do not know the details of these two works, and I will not retell them by guesswork. A separate line in his work concerns the heritage of Saudi Arabia. In 2021 his work “Al Nourhah Pillars” was shown at the Diriyah Biennale, included in the exhibition’s general theme of social change and the continuity of history. In December 2020 he took part in the exhibition “Dwelling”, where, according to some accounts, he played a prominent role. In 2016 Al-Attawi, together with the contemporary Saudi artist Saad Howede, founded Wasm Studio in Riyadh, an artistic and cultural community and a meeting place for the city’s artists.
Profile notes