“My inspiration for art comes from my country, a land of contrasting images and ideas. Good art… forces you to pause, to contemplate and think harder about your surroundings.”
Maha Malluh has lived much of her life in Riyadh and has been exhibiting in international group and solo exhibitions since 1979. Having graduated with a BA in English Literature from Riyadh’s King Saud University in 1993, she received a certificate in design and photography from De Anza College-California in 2000.
Having begun her career as a collagist Malluh moved recently towards photograms, one of the oldest forms of photography. It involves neither camera nor negative, just photographic paper exposed directly to a light source.
Each photogram in ‘Edge of Arabia’ contains a series of objects from Malluh’s studio. They are identifiable only by their outline and the varying degree of translucence. In trying to decipher these objects the viewer becomes an airport security guard. Intimate belongings are scanned to identify them and to gauge the threat they appear to pose.
