Mona Saudi / Filwa Nazer: Formations / Embodied Spaces; Discovering Arab Artists

The eleventh and twelfth volumes of The Art Library, a pioneering art volumes series that documents the most important modern and contemporary Arab artists.

These gorgeously designed volumes offer an informal yet detailed introduction to the most prominent figures of Arab art. The collection is characterized by medium size books, each one dedicated to a single artist, richly illustrated and rigorously documented.

The publications, presented in English and Arabic editions, are launched seasonally, in spring and fall, two by two, in a sophisticated cardboard slipcase. Each slipcase presents a Saudi alongside a non-Saudi artist.

Mona Saudi (b. 1945, Amman, Transjordan – d. 2022, Beirut, Lebanon) was a Jordanian sculptor, publisher, and art activist. She sculpted mainly in stone. Her forms are full of vitality, beauty, and a clear sense of equilibrium, frequently returning to ideas of fertility and growth. Always starting with basic shapes, the square, circle, cylinder, rectangle, she goes on to give them movement, a life of their own – either repeating their forms, varying their depths or heights, or cutting them across one another to create new, graceful compositions.

Filwa Nazer (b. 1972, Swansea, United Kingdom) is a Saudi multimedia conceptual artist. She lives and works in Jeddah.

Her practice ranges from digital prints, photographic collages, and textile to installations, and centers around questioning the emotional and psychological identity in relation to spatial and social contexts.

Recent exhibitions include: Perceptible Rhythms, Alternative Temporalities, Middle East Institute Washington (2022); La Biennale de Lyon, France (2022); Diriyah Biennale (2021); Un mundo de retales, Casa Arabe Madrid (2021); 21,39 Jeddah Arts I Love You Urgently (2020); In Between, as part of March Project residency at Sharjah Art Foundation (2019).

Art historian Mona Khazindar is an expert on Arab visual arts in the modern and contemporary period. Misk Art Institute is Saudi Arabia’s leading non-profit cultural organization that empowers local artists through an interconnected ecosystem of support, expertise, and education, aspiring to unlock opportunities, elevating the arts, and investing in the growth of a thriving, creative community.