Masaha Residency Showcase

Cycle 5

The fifth cycle of the Misk Art Institute’s Masaha Residency program explores the expansive concept of tradition in the context of development in society. Consisting of a cohort of eleven artists and two writers, the three-month residency is a cross-cultural program that allows emerging creatives to develop a new research-driven arts project supplemented with educational programing, mentorship, and resources spanning from a production budget to a private studio space. 

What we look at as a tradition today had once been an innovative idea. Following an accumulation of practices that shaped the identity of certain cultures, these customs are passed from one generation to another, connecting us to certain collective memories specific to our own personal experiences. But tradition is not solely important for defining our cultural identity and our sense of belonging. It can also be a source of our creativity—an essential foundation for an artist. 

What, then, distinguishes these tangible and intangible cultural legacies? Is it a human’s interpretation of its own environment and experiences? Or is it the ability to create practices and rituals that continue despite the march of time? With these questions in mind, the Masaha Residents explore the awareness of their own history or environment. Whether speaking to changes in Saudi Arabia or their own local contexts, our residents respond, in various manners, to cultural phenomena, or a specific experience linked to a certain time or space. 

Simultaneously, while some of the artists have uncovered lost traditions, endeavoring to revive them to remind us of what has been lost, some have attempted to understand certain traditions by exploring the very source of their incorporation into our cultural identity.

The works and research displayed in this showcase are thus the result of a contemplation of social events, myths, or even a single object that triggered memories and emotions, connecting us to what we know and what we missed, what we have, and what we have lost. 

Spanning various mediums—from photography, video, installation, textile, digital, geometry, silkscreen, and of course Arabic writing—our residents have demonstrated the ability to break away from the artistic traditions they have established for themselves, creating new viewpoints to view the past, present, and future. 

- Lulwah Alhomoud, Guest Curator

Masaha Residents: Abeer Bamofleh, Aleena Khan, Ali Almusa, Alia Mardini, Areej Kaoud, Dia Mrad, Haya Alghanim, Ilyas Hajji & Nastya Indrikova, Liao Lihong, Mais Yaser, Noura Aldakhil, and Sara Almutlaq.