Noor Riyadh, the largest light art festival in the world, returns for its third edition from November 30 – December 16, 2023. Its accompanying exhibition, 'Refracted Identities, Shared Futures', curated by Neville Wakefield and Maya Al Athel, runs from 30 November 2023 to 2 March 2024 at Riyadh’s JAX District.
Participating artists celebrate light as a dynamic force, akin to a river of time, shaping and reshaping the contours of our human and cultural identities. In a world that is constantly evolving, light serves as a profound metaphor for the fluid nature of who we are and where we come from.
Shaikha Al Mazrou’s 'Beyond All Measures' (2023) is a newly-commissioned wall piece that explores color theory and materials through the process of metal oxidation. Using this technique on brass sheets, Al Mazrou has created a gradient of colors reminiscent of those seen on a horizon, inviting the viewer to contemplate the line at which the earth’s surface and the sky appear to meet.
Traditionally associated with landscape painting, the horizon, the artist explains, might be interpreted metaphorically as a boundary or a threshold, a point where different realities intersect. It can also symbolize the confines of our perception and the ways in which our understanding is shaped by external forces.
