Point of Departure

2023
  • Installation, Burned Wood, Gold Leaf & Metal, Dimensions variable
    I grew up around geologists and oil people who loved observing the science of their rocks and crystals, but when...

    I grew up around geologists and oil people who loved observing the science of their rocks and crystals, but when it came to the Desert Rose, they always portrayed it as a beautiful mystery. A crystal that symbolized a point of departure and a new beginning.

  • Every year after the rainy season, we would go out, kids and parents, to a flat Sabkha (dry water basin...

    Every year after the rainy season, we would go out, kids and parents, to a flat Sabkha (dry water basin in the desert) a couple of miles outside my hometown Dhahran to collect flower-shaped sand formations colloquially called “Desert Roses.” Armed with baskets and garden forks, we would pluck these roses from the surface of the dry, caked sand, counting and comparing our treasures at the end of the day. We placed them in our bookshelves and nightstands, surrounding ourselves with their presence. I was infatuated with the Desert Rose from an early age.

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  • The Desert Rose is a geological phenomenon found in only a few deserts around the world,a crystal that forms in...

    The Desert Rose is a geological phenomenon found in only a few deserts around the world,a crystal that forms in nature when molecules gather to stabilize. For Point of Departure I used the form of a deconstructed Desert Rose, referencing both its environmental transformation and its metaphysical powers to embody the meaning behind a definitive moment in the history of my country, when ideas became fully formed and dreams started to crystalize.

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