Taste the air change, 2022

Decal tiles, vinyl, blown glass, rose and jasmine petals, diffuser oil with olive, almond, jasmine and juniper.

120 x 120 x 30 cm

Revealed Blindspot, 2022

Dyed sand, foam, decal ceramic tiles, gravel

180 x 170 x 30 cm

STATEMENT

Using a psycho-geographical approach, these works weave together disparate locations of personal attachment with cultural reflection and personal mementos to both echo and create a form of heterotopia and echos idea of space being both a physical and shifting psychological realm. Particularly influenced by the heterotopic spaces of roadside shrines and Islamic Paradise Gardens, Hamaoui uses tempting haptic textures to elicit a transportive immensity. Creating a surreal image, which is identifiable as a certain place, but with uncanny qualities, the works aim to highlight the uncanniness of the present.

BIOGRAPHY

Hamaoui b.1996 (she/her) is a British-Lebanese artist and organiser, a graduate of Camberwell College of Art and a member of Gobyfish Collective, a platform for dialogue, collaboration and exchange that operates at the intersection of art and food. Maintaining a broad, multidisciplinary practice, Hamaoui aims to advance our understanding of the interrelationship between cultural identity, the object and place, as viewed from within  our increasingly digitised society and tech-infused existence. Addressing the importance placed on physical remnants of the past, as well as historically Western depictions of the SWANA region in mass media and popular culture, Hamaoui explores the ways in which image and memory can distort a sense of place or belonging.

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS

11 – Sustainable Cities and Communities

15 – Life on Land