Until 30 April 2026, ATHR Gallery is hosting Threshold, a thoughtful solo exhibition by Saudi artist Sultan Bin Fahad that explores states of transition: spiritual, physical, and psychological. Curated by Zaynab Odunsi, the show is an immersive environment where objects, images, and installations serve as conduits for experience. Bringing together sculpture, print, video, and installation, the exhibition reflects Bin Fahad’s longstanding engagement with memory, ritual, and the material traces of belief.
At the core of Threshold lies the concept of liminality, the condition of being in-between. The show situates visitors within moments of transformation, where meaning remains fluid and unresolved. The artworks draw on fragments of sacred architecture, ritual gestures, and devotional practices, reassembling them into a spatial and sensory field. Bin Fahad constructs what might be described as a phenomenology of faith: an exploration of how belief is embodied, enacted, and mediated through objects and environments.
The exhibition emphasises encounter over explanation. Sculptural elements (carved stone forms, metallic structures, and vessels) appear less as autonomous objects than as “instruments of passage.” They evoke thresholds in both literal and symbolic terms: boundaries between the interior and the exterior, the private and the collective, the material and the immaterial. Video projections further complicate these distinctions, translating acts of devotion into light and movement. Works like The Verse of the Throne and Possession extend the exhibition into the immaterial realm, where sound, image, and rhythm contribute to an atmosphere of quiet intensity.
A recurring motif throughout the exhibition is the transformation of collective ritual into intimate experience. Screens and partitions compress the scale of communal practices, such as prayer or pilgrimage, into moments of individual reflection. Stones seem to retain the imprint of touch, while surfaces bear the traces of repeated gestures. In this sense, the works function as repositories of memory, preserving the emotional and spiritual residues of human interaction. As the exhibition suggests, memory is not a passive archive but an active force, continually reshaping the present.
Materiality plays a crucial role in this process. Bin Fahad’s use of stone, metal, water, and light underscores the tension between permanence and ephemerality. These elements act as witnesses to transformation, holding within them the possibility of change while grounding the work in tangible reality. Through these materials, the artist articulates a language of transition: one that is at once sensory and symbolic.
Importantly, Threshold resists the notion of faith as a fixed or monumental condition. Instead, it presents spirituality as an ongoing, embodied practice, a process of movement rather than a state of arrival. Visitors are invited to navigate the exhibition not as observers but as participants, engaging in a form of introspective passage. The spatial arrangement encourages proximity and attentiveness; it often creates moments of disorientation that prompt reflection. In this way, the exhibition becomes a site of questioning: How do we move between different states of being? How do we reconcile memory with change?
About the artist
Sultan Bin Fahad (b. 1971, Riyadh, KSA) holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from King Saud University (1994) and an MBA from the University of San Francisco (1997).
While Bin Fahad’s academic background is rooted in business, his artistic trajectory has been shaped by an engagement with history, architecture, and memory. He consistently explores the relationship between material culture and intangible experience. Bin Fahad’s work often involves the collection and recontextualisation of found objects, materials that carry with them the traces of specific places, such as abandoned buildings, historical landmarks, or everyday environments, and narratives.
Bin Fahad has displayed his creations in various exhibitions and major art events, including World Expo (Saudi Pavilion, Osaka, Japan, 2025); Islamic Biennale (Jeddah, KSA, 2023); Frequency (solo) (Rhinoceros Gallery, Rome, Italy, 2020); Bahrain Annual Fine Arts Exhibition (the Arena Manama, Bahrain, 2019); London Arabia Art & Fashion Week (Jumeirah Carlton Tower Hotel, London, UK, 2018); and Contemporary Photography from the Arab World (American University Museum, Katzen Art Center, Washington DC, USA, 2018), to name a few. The artist’s works can be found in esteemed public collections such as the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture – Ithra (Dhahran, KSA) and Guggenheim Abu Dhabi.
To get more information about Thresholds, please visit the official web page of the exhibition.
You might also be interested in exploring Here, Now by Asma Bahmim and the Open-air Sculpture Museum.
