Held every year, the Hayy Jameel Façade Commission is a special programme that gives one of the participating artists or art collectives the opportunity to create a public artwork on the 25-metre front of the Hayy Jameel building. This year, a distinguished jury panel, which included Muhannad Shono (a curator and visual artist), Nora Razian (Deputy Director (Arts) at Art Jameel), Sumayya Vally (Founder of Counterspace and Artistic Director of the Islamic Arts Biennale), and Clare Davies (Associate Curator at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, USA), has selected artist Ashraf Abdullah for the 2024-2025 commission.
Ashraf Abdullah (b. 1997) is an Afghan-origin artist and designer based in Saudi Arabia who specialises in graffiti. He has been passionate about this art style since an early age, being exposed to various types of Arabic calligraphy in the streets of his community. This deep connection with Arabic typography and lettering is central to Abdullah’s art practice.
In addition, one of the shortlisted proposals was granted with Jury Special Mention. The jury panel opted to award artist Jameelah Mater in recognition of her originality and bold vision. Mater, who started her career in the Al Muftaha Art Village (Abha, Saudi Arabia), is a painter of Al-Qatt Al-Asiri. Also known as nagash painting/majlis painting, it is a traditional Arabic art style which is typically created by women at the entrance to a home and features vibrant geometric patterns of icons.
To get more information about the 2024-2025 Hayy Jameel Façade Commission, please visit the official website of Hayy Jameel.
Ashraf Abdullah’s design of the façade will be revealed to the public in December 2024. In the meantime, you can read about The Cell by Zahrah Alghamdi, the winner of the previous edition of the Façade Commission. This sculptural art piece was on view until 1 September 2024. In addition, you may be interested in reading our articles about public murals in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
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