MUSCAT – Under the patronage of the Honorable Lujaina Bint Mohsen Darwish, Member of the State Council, the art exhibition “A Fragment of Feelings” by the artist Zahra Al-Ghatrifi was unveiled on Monday, March 7, 2022, at Gallery Sarah, Muscat. Over thirty artworks is being showcased, in which artist Zahra evokes ancient stories through the use of materials from the environment and the Omani heritage transformed into a contemporary artistic subject, highly harmonious with chosen earthy and vibrant colours.
The featured artist Zahra has been a member of the Oman society of Fine Arts (OSFA) since 2003, and participated in almost all the exhibitions of OSFA and The Omani Youth Studio as well. It is worth mentioning that the artist won many local awards and her works were collected by some of governmental and private institutions and individuals.
Explaining the concept behind her exhibits, Zahra Ghatrifi said, “During the quarantine and stay home period of the pandemic, artists were the biggest beneficiaries, with the positive impact of the crisis reflecting on the artist’s creative works. Personally, I created three series of artworks of nostalgic stories recycling some old fragments, such as wood and fabric crumbs, and old environmental and heritage materials that I collected from my father’s old house in the village of Al-Aqar, Nizwa. All these crumbs carried memories and stories of intrinsic values that deserve to be told.”
“We humans are a group of feelings from our past that reflects what we are in now”, Zahra added.
In some of her works, the artist employed the remains of an old tool she had taken from her father’s farm called Al-Manjour; It is a serrated wooden wheel that rotates around an axis called (Hataba Al-Manjour), where the animal is constantly dragging the rope back and forth in an inclined path in front of the fount.
The exhibition “A Fragment of Feelings” by the featured artist Zahra Al-Ghatrifi is a series of artistic works that have a deep human dimension to appreciate and highlight the values and achievements of the old generation, through which she brought back stories of the past through vibrations that she felt in her hands while carrying the remains of wood and heritage pieces, in addition to some old embroidered fabrics from the closet of her mother and grandmother.
Laila Muhammad Al-Najjar- exhibition curator- said “The use of the AL Manjour has a philosophical and profound human dimension more than just using it in the artwork as an ancient material. The artist sheds light on the simple and primitive man’s thought at that time in finding smart and creative solutions to improve life in the manufacture, and creative thought in the design and engineering of Al Manjour as a tool to be used to facilitate the process of extracting water from the well and developing productivity. In addition to this, the artist reflects core values, which are the principle of charity and patience, which the generation of grandparents and fathers who planted a fruitful present with their own hands.
The artist was able to convey this feeling and evoke that warm time by presenting the subject in a contemporary artistic style. Due to that we curated this exhibition in a special way that fits and harmonizes the subject matter of the showcased works, where we used lamps instead of lighting, to let the audience live and indulge the atmosphere of the past and its warm stories tailored in the details of each painting in Gallery Sarah.
The Exhibition will be open from March 7 to April 7,2022, Saturday to Thursday from 9:00 am to 5:30 pm, at Gallery Sarah- Bait Al Zubair.
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