Born in 1990 in Qatif, Saudi Arabia. Lives and works in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Sarah Abu Abdallah’s practice investigates the sociocultural conditions of Saudi Arabia. Working across video, painting, and installations, her speculative spaces and narrative assemblages are based on fragments of reality and are colored by absurdity and awkwardness, drawing upon common everyday episodes and her own lived experiences. Abu Abdallah often works in a diaristic mode, where mundane activities, public spaces, and the architecture of the home are recast as relatable subjects, through which she investigates the subtexts of everyday life. Abu Abdullah’s subjects appear seemingly unrelated on a surface level; however, her approach is one of abstract logic, where outwardly disconnected fragments are shown to be outlying expressions of a significant, shared narrative.
Recent exhibitions include “Feeling the Stones”, Diriyah Biennale, Riyadh, 2021; “For The First Time in a Long Time”, Jameel Arts Centre, Dubai; Kunstverein Hamburg, 2019 (solo); and “Unsettled Objects”, Sharjah Art Foundation, 2019.
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