Wadi AlFann Presents Ahmed Mater, Physician Turned Artist

Ahmed Mater b. 1979, Saudi Arabia Follow +

Over the years, Ahmed Mater has been a significant cultural voice documenting the realities of contemporary Saudi Arabia.

It was when he enrolled to study medicine that he developed an interest in photography. A year later, Mater started experimenting with discarded X-rays from the local hospital during his studies. In his photographic series ‘Magnetism’ (2009–2012), inspired by a game the artist played at school, a single magnet is surrounded by iron filings scattered on the ground.

Mater’s interest in Saudi Arabia’s natural and cultural landscapes extends to his latest project Ashab Al-Lal: a Land Art commission for Wadi AlFann, Valley of the Arts, AlUla, a new global cultural destination for contemporary art. The commissions for Wadi AlFann will mark a new chapter in art history, as the unveiling of this epic ambition will commence in 2025 leading to completion in 2027.

Mater is one of the first five artists, alongside Manal AlDowayan, Agnes Denes, Michael Heizer, and James Turrell, to create a permanent Land Art commission in the monumental landscape of AlUla, the extraordinary desert region of north-west Saudi Arabia steeped in thousands of years of natural, historical and cultural heritage.

Mater’s large-scale commission will explore the mythic space between subjective imagination and objective reality by generating a mirage within the sand dunes. The artist challenges the idea of the landmark as a symbol of status and authority, viewing it instead as a place for the transmission of knowledge.

When Mater first visited Wadi AlFann, he recalls thinking, ‘I don’t want to compete with nature.’ Instead, his commission Ashab Al-Lal, will comprise a giant oculus within the desert floor, inspired by scientific and philosophical thinkers from the Islamic golden age.

Ashab Al-Lal will be in dialogue with nature, set against the stunning sandstone cliffs and canyons of the vast terrain. Learning from the desert, he is responding to the landscape of AlUla, taking inspiration from its dramatic topography, undulating vistas, remarkable geological structures and complex natural ecosystem.

Visitors will descend through tunnels into Mater’s circular chamber where their image will be transformed into a mirage that hovers above the desert floor.

‘Mirage for us is the image of the desert,’ Mater says. ‘It keeps us going and going.’ —[O]

Find out more about Ahmed Mater’s commission for Wadi AlFann, Valley of the Arts, AlUla, at Ahmed Mater: Chronicles, Mater’s mid-career retrospective at Christie’s, London, from 17 July to 22 August 2024.

Director credit: Lisa Rovner.

Main image: Render of Ashab Al-Lal by Ahmed Mater, Wadi AlFann, AlUla. Courtesy Royal Commission for AlUla.