Artist Statement

My investigation of the limitations of a visual language within fine art leads me to explore the fundamental elements of language that contribute to a story. This overlap plays on one's senses of memory and imagination. I place myself at the centre of the work, both physically as the object and emotionally as the subject.

My current work focuses on the recycling of found and disposable objects making poetic works that explore labour, displacement, domesticity, womanhood and memory, with a particular focus on the Middle East through the histories contained within aged, and culturally specific objects.

I further develop this aspect of re-using objects to re-create narratives, to explore memory with a focus on older objects from previous generations. This idea of the development of a generational craft work that spans time, at once explores hand me down skills, stories and community, and by extension, cultural specificity and intercultural nature of British society.

My focus on developing inter-cultural dialogues is a vital step in the support of offering alternative ways to see the world, and initiate debate about the globalised world we live in. I see my work contributing to dialogues around global cultures, media and questions of identity, both national and personal.

I explore whether the durational aspect of craft, more so than other artforms, expresses concepts of time, through the way in which the hand of the artist is inherent within the medium. Alongside this a consideration of whether the voice is inherent within craft and its histories, alluding to feminist narratives by bringing the domestic into a more discursive platform.

By reviewing history, authorship and authenticity, Cultural and historical customs are drawn out. Networks are re-worked where the material shapes the way the viewer identifies with stories and engagement can happen. Stories are recounted, history, authorship and authenticity are again revisited.

Bio

Aya Haidar graduated with a BA in Fine Art from the Slade School of Fine Art, during which she completed an exchange program at School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC). She then went on to graduate with an MSc in NGOs and Development from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

International solo and group exhibitions include The Whitworth (Manchester), Kettle’s Yard (Cambridge), Cromwell Place (London), Cubitt (London), Art Berlin Contemporary (Germany), Athr Gallery (Jeddah), Bischoff Weiss (London), New Art Exchange (Nottingham), Jeddah 21,39 (KSA), Mosaic Rooms (London), Casa Arabe (Madrid), Beirut Art Week (Beirut), FIAC (Paris), Frieze Art Fair (London), Art Dubai (UAE), Abu Dhabi Art (UAE), Art Istanbul (Turkey).

Aya has been involved in numerous social engagement projects, including Kettle’s Yard, PEER, The Camden Arts Center, Shubbak Festival, Mosaic Rooms’ Together Apart: Lockdown Diaries, INIVA's A Place for Conversation, V&A's Stitching Borders and Record, Resist, Reframe, Tate's Illuminating Cultures program and INIVA’s Emotional Learning Cards, as well as being selected for Hans Ulrich Obrist and Hoor Al Qasemi’s Do It Arab project (2016).
Artist Residencies include Deveron projects (Aberdeenshire), Cubitt Arts (London) and Three Rivers Trust (Bexley).

Publications include, Hole & Corner, De Fil En Aiguille  by Charlotte Vannier, Tribe Magazine, Art of the Middle East, Modern and Contemporary Art from the Middle East and Iran by Saeb Eigner, Canvas, Harper's Bazaar Art Arabia, The National, Contemporary Practices and ELLE Magazine.

Her major institutional acquisitions include the Victoria and Albert Museum (UK), Jameel Collection and the Guggenheim (Abu Dhabi) for her most recent large scale installation Highly Strung.

Aya Haidar currently lives and works in London.