Fahad bin Naif
Fahad bin Naif is an emerging artist, whose work subject matter mainly derives from examining the local urban fabric of his home city, Riyadh.
He combines socio-economic issues with the collective memory of architectural interventions and extracted realities drawn from civic structures, using Riyadh as the anchoring thread of his practice as a whole. Working across multiple mediums, Bin Naif’s interdisciplinary practice sees the use of large-scale installations and interventions, video works, photography and design, all driven by his research of the urban landscape.
His project EXODUS, a migratory city that hosts those in constant transience, employs the use of digital collage accumulated into one larger artistic volume, winning the Bartlett’s Gold Prize (2017), and was subsequently featured in numerous publications.
In 2020, Fahad won the third cycle of the prestigious Ithra Art Prize for his work Rakhm, meaning ‘incubation’ in Arabic; a lifesize installation of a functioning greenhouse that nurtures local and indigenous flora, the work was debuted at Art Dubai 2021. Fahad earned a bachelor’s degree in Architecture from Central Saint Martins – University of the Arts London, and has a Master’s degree in Urban Design from the Bartlett School of Architecture – UCL.
Bin Naif has participated in multiple exhibitions, most notably 21,39’s ‘I Love You Urgently’, curated by Maya Elkhalil with his installation (in collaboration with Alaa Tarabzouni) Al Manakh, You Will Be Missed (2020), the show ‘The Mountains Quiver in Anticipation’ (2022), at Hayy Arts in Hayy Jameel, Jeddah. Salamatak (2022) curated by Maryam Bilal, Al Meftaha, Abha and JAX, Diriyah.
He was involved in the group show ‘POACHED’ (2019) with his typological photography series Where Pat Lives. Alongside his art practice, Fahad is a practicing curator. He curated four shows ‘The Quest for Our Next Concern’ (2019/2020) and the individual exhibition ‘Next Wednesday’ with artist Huda Alnasser and ‘The Artists’ Rooms’ with Mohammed Alfaraj, Sarah Abu Abdallah and Sara Abdu (2021) and ‘Parallel’ (2023) with curator Federico Montagna, a first of its kind AR exhibition commissioned by the Ministry of Culture.
Fahad is an acquired artist, his works are a part of the national collection at the Saudi Ministry of Culture, as well as private collections. Fahad is the co-founder and shares the multidisciplinary artist-run studio, exhibition space and creative house VERY PUBLIC in the Diplomatic Quarters with Alaa Tarabzouni.