11th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art

Five women (detail) 2021 / Mixed media, including navy antistatic lining, black latex, piping cord, cotton-covered plastic boning, nylon interlining, calico cotton, nylon tulle, matt rubber, poly-rubber fabric, cotton webbing / Five components (installed dimensions variable) / Commissioned by the Diriyah Biennale Foundation / Collection: Museums Commission, Ministry of Culture, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia / Image courtesy: The artist NOTES 1 Nazer’s work in Desert X AlUla, Preserving Shadows 2024, an elevated walkway made from mesh and steel pillars, has parallels with Five women 2021. The later work references stories of serpents and djinn (animal or human spirits), and metaphorically creates the experience of the accomplishment of a dark journey. Filwa Nazer’s practice combines domestic fabrics that are used in the manufacture of garments with construction materials associated with her home, the port city of Jeddah in Saudi Arabia. Her subtle and multilayered works explore the relationship between our public and private lives, and range from intimate, handstitched textiles to semi- architectural sculptures. Nazer begins each work with a drawing, followed by pattern-making, and a process that involves both creation and deconstruction. As its title implies, Five women 2021 consists of five sculptural objects suggestive of the female body that are suspended from the ceiling to hover above the floor. Nazer has combined stiffened nylon tulle, black latex, unbleached calico, cotton padding and plastic boning into monumental forms that refer to the imagined energetic space of each woman’s story. Most of the forms are black, some white, with meticulous red stitching. Some trail black ribbons that pool at the base of their form. Each sculpture is individually titled with a pair of initials — A.Q , W.Z , L.R , N.T , H.A — referring to the name of the subject. Larger than life, the forms’ material presence is at once imposing and intimate, legible and obscure. Nazer’s work reflects on the vulnerable process we go through individually and collectively in times of transition and transformation. Such a transition has recently taken place in Saudi Arabia as the kingdom has moved away from a period of unprecedented conservatism. For women, exacting dress regulations, mandatory gender segregation and other restrictions have been lifted, and women have benefited from increased access to employment and public life. A sense of rebirth, vibrancy and growth in the kingdom is clear, and real change is pervasive. This shift has been accompanied by increased support for culture and the arts, evident in the number of female artists and curators involved in the recently established Diriyah Biennale and Islamic Arts Biennale, as well as in the public artworks featured in the open-air exhibition Desert X AlUla 2024. 1 As a young woman growing up in Saudi Arabia during this period of conservatism, Nazer found it difficult to explore her creativity and she eventually left to live in the United Kingdom and Europe. While living in Italy, she studied fashion, a legacy integral to her conceptual practice. With the current cultural shifts occurring in Saudi Arabia, she recently returned home to pursue her art, drawing on foundational experiences and personal memories of gender and public life. For Five women , Nazer interviewed the five individuals who are identified only by their initials, speaking with them about how they relate to their own bodies, their formative memories and experiences of intimate moments in their lives during that particular time in the history of Saudi Arabia. Each of the forms is based on a dress or garment that the person associates with a distinct memory. Nazer captures the contrast between interior and exterior lives through materials. Drawing on her knowledge of textiles and clothing construction, she combines fabrics often used for more intimate garments or the concealed lining of dresses and jackets — such as nylon tulle, calico cotton, polyester wadding and boning — with industrialised materials associated with public Saudi architecture; for example, the mesh used to cover heritage buildings undergoing renovation. This contrast deliberately echoes the transition between private and public selves and spaces. Filwa Nazer’s use of stitching and geometry references garment patterns and architectural spaces, and the way that both fashion and urban design can act as means of expression that simultaneously protect, define and limit us. Through its deconstruction and recasting of forms, Five women captures the moment of transformation and transition in contemporary Saudi society, and the increasing presence of women in public spaces. The haunting work evokes a sense of vulnerability, as well as women’s seemingly endless capacity for resilience. ABIGAIL BERNAL BORN 1972, SWANSEA, UNITEDKINGDOM LIVES+WORKS IN JEDDAH, SAUDI ARABIA FILWANAZER ARTISTS+PROJECTS ASIAPACIFICTRIENNIAL 154 — 155