Ahmed Mater
Ahmed Mater (احمد ماطر)
b. 1979 in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia; based in Abha, Jeddah, and Makkah
ahmedmater.com
Work in exhibition
Leaves Fall in All Seasons, 2013
Video, 19 min. 57 sec.
See all installation views at higher resolution: www.flickr.com/photos/parasophia/sets/72157654544920923
Mater works as both a doctor and an artist. In the field of art, he is also the leader of the Saudi Arabian young artists’ collective Ibn Aseer, and a co-founder of the nonprofit Edge of Arabia (2003–). In recent years he has worked on the ongoing project Desert of Pharan, which documents the rapid development of Makkah, adopting multiple perspectives on the future outlook and possibilities of the Muslim world. He presents Leaves Fall in All Seasons, a film made up of mobile phone footage shot by immigrant workers on building sites in and around Makkah, which was transferred to the artist’s phone and uploaded to the Internet. The footage records the physical and cultural transformation of the holy city from these men’s perspective, revealing behind-the-scenes realities of Makkah’s modernization that are omitted from the official narrative.
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Ahmed Mater, Leaves Fall in All Seasons, 2013. Installation view at Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art for Parasophia: Kyoto International Festival of Contemporary Culture 2015. Photo by Norimasa Kawata
