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I have been gazing outside my studio window in the neighbourhood of Al Bada’a in Dubai for seven years. Documenting the passage of time through studying natural light and its manifestations on different surfaces in my home, has involved a ritualistic practice of drawing the blinds early morning to acknowledge the subtle yet fleeting gradients of the sky and the clouds that are adrift, through works situated in the medium of drawing. This direction in my studio practice continued for a few years, gradually being overlaid with commutes from the city of Dubai to Abu Dhabi since my MFA studies at NYU Abu Dhabi began in 2022. These have been accompanied by an acknowledgement of the atmospheric haze on the long drives, a presence that brought itself to the fore in the summer of 2023, prompting an online investigation into the air quality of my surroundings.
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Dominated by sight, training in drawing begins with mark making through observation from life, but vision that solely relies on the unaided eye, functions within limitations. The atmosphere is a composite of diverse particulate matter that lies beyond the periphery of vision. With the help of a research instrumentation scientist at NYU Abu Dhabi, I was able to access atmospheric specimens in my neighbourhood of Al Bada’a through sampling air using a vacuum filtration system, the results of which were viewed under an electron microscope. Having access to particulate matter, I began to reflect on the atmospheric haze that I was driving through in my commutes to the city of Abu Dhabi and how it is a buildup of innumerable elements that the naked eye cannot detect. Imagining the tactile qualities of microscopic phenomena, the specimens were brought to life in the form of 3D prints.
In this body of work, past and present creations come together to reveal a common thread that highlights a ritualistic yet slow shifting engagement with the sky and its interpretation over time. The result is a constellation of skies exploring the materiality of an intangible atmosphere and its constituents, addressing the accumulation of time and its consequential decay, through drawing.
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Studio window, Al Bada'a, Dubai
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3D print of an unknown atmospheric specimen in clear resin
Microscopic image of an atmospheric specimen (unknown)
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