From top to bottom: Oasis Magazine cover, Just add snow, Snow in the desert, Subha. © the artist
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Noura Bouzo (1983) says her art is about the notion of not belonging, but it appears even more to be an effort to negotiate the terms of her desired homecoming. She may not be much different from the unlikely Polar man who returns from a desert journey bringing a well packed camel on to the ice. There is both danger and duality in such a venture. When the ice melts, all of home will drown with the camel. When the ice holds, the camel may freeze but the packs, they might be saved. Bouzo is one of perhaps more women who have studied in Beirut (BA Fine Arts) and London (MA History and Archaelogy from SOAS, University of London and Arts at Central Saint Martins) and have returned to Riyadh. She is both an artist and a creative director for an English language lifestyle magazine. Oasis Magazine covers 'what's hot and happening in Saudi Arabia' and may include such serious items as Harvard Business School icon Michael Porter adressing the Global Competitiveness Forum 2009 on the ability of Saudi's to establish a business. Bouzo will know as she is one of the co-founders of the magazine, which reported the forum as being about: 'responsible competitiveness.' Just add snow (2007) is the painting that lend its title to an exhibition of her work in a place called DNA in Riyadh. The artist explained: 'snow is added to all works in this group creating joy, chaos and a feeling of change.' There are images of snow in the desert and of a traditional sword dancer. 'Snow, behind you,' she reminds him on Saatchi Online. It will serve to move the dancer's eye from ancient competitiveness to; well first a little snow and then perhaps to Kilimanjaro. Adding only Porter, will just not help. Sources: http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk © All rights reserved. |
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From top to bottom: Oasis Magazine cover, Just add snow, Snow in the desert, Subha. © the artist |