Practice · Painting
Al-Qatt Al-Asiri
- Tradition
- Al-Qatt Al-Asiri, Asir region
- Media
- Paint on paper and canvas
- Related
- Sadu weaving
Al-Qatt Al-Asiri is the decorative wall painting of the Asir region in the south-west of the Kingdom. Traditionally painted by women inside the home, it covers walls in bands of colour, triangles, diamonds and chequerboards. In 2017 it was inscribed on UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
My pieces carry the same vocabulary onto paper and canvas: a ruled frame, rows of triangles crowned with small plant motifs, and chequered bands in red, green, yellow and blue. Each is drawn out in pencil first, then filled colour by colour.
One piece, titled هوية حية (Living Identity), places a line of Arabic calligraphy at its centre.
