Light is Everything, without it there is Nothing…
Light Upon Light, by Walaa Fadul. 2021. Part of the Seeing and Perceiving exhibition at Ithra.
Walaa Fadul, an emerging Saudi artist combing philosophy with art, with a touch of digital and the manifestation of unique creations.
She is a graphic designer by education but an artist by concept and implementation. There is a fine line between Design and Art, the former is more a problem-solving tool and the latter is a tool of exploration and expression. As Ms Fadul, from Jeddah, pointed out:
‘Theme-special’ featured Saud artist, Walaa Fadul, an emerging Saud artist combining philosophy with art, wit a touch of digital and the manifestation of unique creations.
Light Upon Light, by Walaa Fadul. 2021. Part of the Seeing and Perceiving exhibition at Ithra.
This invoked the image of a bottle of water and she expanded on how the functionality of a bottle doesn’t mean it is not artistic. The simplicity of her vision shows that people don’t need to be specialized in art to be able to understand art and her goal is to bridge that gap. In order to do so, she deep dives into the topic, creates a thesis, and researches in order to prove or disprove it. She isn’t afraid of being wrong and correcting the course of her concept and artwork.
Ms Fadul’s biggest advice to anyone interested in creating art is “to be themselves and do what your heart tells you to do.” An artist needs to be convinced of the concept and the connection with the artwork for it to be a success. She was the winner of the Ithra open call for emerging Saudi artists where her proposal was selected to be realized and be exhibited at Ithra’s Seeing and Perceiving exhibit.
Her Light Upon Light (Noor Ala Noor) artwork was born out of that, and is the selected cover art for this edition of Ithraeyat. She had formed a special connection with the artwork that attempts to manifest the literal meaning of the verse. Light is the fundamental element that creates surrounding and therefore our consciousness, it reflects in a way that removes ambiguity and reveals something new to observe and understand.
Light Upon Light, by Walaa Fadul. 2021. Part of the Seeing and Perceiving exhibition at Ithra.
She spent many months working on it, and was helped by mentors from Ithra who helped develop and finalize the artwork. However, the moment she started working on the project with her own conviction and passion, it easily fell into place and her concept came to life. To her, “light was not a means to an end but the object of this artwork.” It is what gives life and materiality to her art’s experience.
As she was inspired by Ayah (verse 35 of Surah Al Nur), She carefully designed a holographic geometric composition with an intricate proportion by using void as a surface and light as a medium. The composition itself is inspired from the tradition of sacred geometry; the artist uses them to create an introspect meaning that act as form of thinking. When viewing, a traditional sacred geometry colored in seven colors will appear but it is actually three layers of
light superimposed upon each other produced using three colors only RGB (red, green, blue). These images are not static. They purposefully change based on the viewers’ angle and their interactions with the piece.
The installation attempts to take the viewer inside a misinterpreted experience, one that makes them think what is reality and what is not?
What once was assured can become uncertain. The fact is that when the projector is turned off, there is no art. And so, without light, there is no life within this experience. Reflecting on that, Ms Fadul pointed out that “light plays a huge role in how we exist in space”. If the light is bright, yellow, spotted, or elongated, it affects how we react to content and what we feel in a space. This is what the artwork evokes. Light is part of how we exist and has a huge impact on our lives whether we interact with it passively or actively.
