Beyond containment: Emirati artist Shaikha Al Mazrou explores form, fragility in minimalist campaign

Al Etihad

13-05-2025

13 May 2025 21:46
SARA ALZAABI (ABU DHABI)Minimalism is a signature of Emirati contemporary artist Shaikha Al Mazrou, and as she returns to the 17th edition of Abu Dhabi Art, she brings forth a new vibrant, thought-provoking campaign as she leads the fest's visual identity."Returning to Abu Dhabi Art as this year's visual campaign artist feels like both a return and a progression - an opportunity to reflect on how my practice has grown while remaining rooted in my artistic landscape," Al Mazrou told Aletihad.Scheduled to be held from November 19-23 at Manarat Al Saadiyat, Abu Dhabi Art will feature a dynamic programme of exhibitions, commissions and education outputs.For her latest campaign, Al Mazrou worked with powder-coated steel, inflated forms, along with fabricated surfaces that challenge conventional notions of mass and weight."The themes-suspension, fragility, and containment-are articulated through the material language of contradiction: steel structures that evoke lightness, inflatables fixed in static form," said the artist who first took part in Abu Dhabi Art in 2017.Imagine a piece of square metal folded in half, forming neat, symmetric lines that are striking - and almost illusory."It plays with the idea of forms caught in transition - on the edge of balance or collapse, solidity or suspension," Al Mazrou said."The visual identity captures this, inviting viewers to question what is fixed and what is in flux."Al Mazrou's artistic language remains grounded in a stripped-down, intentional aesthetic."My practice is guided by a focus on precision, restraint, and material intentionality," she said. "Rather than embellishment, I gravitate toward what is essential, allowing materials and their interactions to speak for themselves."One of her featured works at the fair, "Beyond All Measures", exemplifies her poetic approach to form and meaning."It is a refusal of containment. The title is a provocation-what lies beyond quantification, beyond containment, beyond the rational logic of systems," she said.The piece draws on the metaphor of the horizon-both as a visual boundary and as a philosophical symbol.Using metal oxidation techniques, Al Mazrou creates gradients on copper tiles to reflect "the disorientation and boundlessness of this space".It is the exploration of materiality and colour through oxidised copper, inspired by the horizon as both a physical and symbolic boundary.Using gradients that mimic the mutable horizon, the piece begs viewers to think about perception, ambiguity and the way our notions are made by circumstances."I want the campaign to offer an open invitation for visitors to engage. It is not about directing them toward a specific narrative, but rather encouraging them to pause and allow themselves to experience the subtle tension it evokes," she said.
Drawing Inspiration Al Mazrou is among the talented artists who do not keep a fixed, linear source of inspiration. To her, it often emerges from a wide variety of things, from architecture and natural erosion to silence - or even failure."Inspiration is not confined to a discipline or even necessarily to art-it's a form of realisation of forces, contexts, and contradictions that demand a response," she said.For this Emirati talent, art "can often be the most powerful way to engage with reality" - an advice she would tell younger artists.
"I hope young emerging artists learn that practice is a long game, one that requires patience and persistence. That rigour can be expansive, and it's okay not to explain everything," she said.