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Lot Essay
Executed in 2012, Human Highway and Human Highway (Mina) from the iconic Desert of Pharan series are Ahmed Mater’s testament documenting the rapid development of Mecca, a place in a state of constant metamorphosis. Mater captures the aerial view of the sacred Stoning of the Jamarat, referred also as the Stoning of the Devil, a rite carried out by Hajj pilgrims whereby small pebbles are thrown at the three Jamarat stone structures in Mina. The pebbles used in the stoning are traditionally gathered at Muzdalifah on the night before the first throwing and carried back to Mina through a long walk across the Jamarat bridge. This specific moment is captured from two different angles in these photographs. The zoomed-out shots pixelate the individuality of the pilgrims creating an anonymous river of people flowing through the stream led by a shared mission. Human Highway recalls one of Mater's most iconic works: Magnetism (2009), an extraordinary installation, shown at the 2009 Venice Biennale, consisting of a black square magnet surrounded by iron filings. The tiny black shards are in thrall to the magnet’s pull highlighting the spiritual forces that uphold the human faith.
The Desert of Paran series is named after the ancient denomination for Mecca as written in the Old Testament. The project maps the tension between public and private space capturing the shifting urban environment of the city as well as the lives lived amid the tumult. While Mecca is home to more than a million residents, it is being transformed to adapt to the geopolitical, technological, environmental, and religious context in which it exists. Human Highway captures these ongoing mutations of the relationship between the land and its inhabitants, including for example the numerous expansion projects of the Jamarat bridge. This body of work asks: Is public space in the Islamic city becoming a luxury item? Is the courtyard becoming a commercial?
The series, including the work Human Highway has been featured in an extensive number of important museum solo and group exhibitions internationally. These include Common Grounds held in 2015 at the Museum Villa Stuck in Munich which marked Mater’s first debut in Germany. A year later, the major show Symbolic Cities: The work of Ahmed Mater at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, presented itself as the first major solo exhibition by a Saudi Arabian artist in the United States. In 2017, the work was included in the show Epicenter X held at the Arab American National Museum exploring contemporary Saudi culture by promoting meaningful dialogue between Saudi artists and U.S. audiences. In the same year, The Brooklyn Museum presented Ahmed Mater: Mecca Journeys, an unprecedented look into the changes unfolding in Mecca. The series was later featured in the show Desert to Delta at the Art Museum of University of Memphis in Tennessee and Drum roll, please at the King Abdullah Economic City in Saudi Arabia, a major solo exhibition exploring the archiving and documentation of Saudi Arabia’s contemporary history.
Born in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia in 1979, Mater is recognised as one of the most esteemed cultural voices documenting and scrutinising the realities of contemporary Saudi Arabia today. While training as a medical student at King Saud University, Abha College of Medicine, he began experimenting using discarded X-rays from the local hospital to make art. In 1999, Mater embarks his artistic journey joining the Al-Meftaha Arts Village, under the patronage of HRH Prince Khalid Al-Faisal. There he began to entwine expressive and politically engaged artistic aims with the scientific objectives of his medical training. His practice spans film, sculpture, photography, and performance, evoking pertinent questions about the paradoxes of faith, science and community in a rapidly changing world. As the co-founder of the Edge of Arabia collective, he has been socially engaged connecting a new generation of Saudi artists with international audiences, including overseeing the first Saudi National Pavilion at the Architecture Exhibition at the Venice Biennale. His work is part of major international collections including The British Museum, London; Victoria & Albert Museum, London; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; and Centre Pompidou, Paris. He currently lives and works in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The Desert of Paran series is named after the ancient denomination for Mecca as written in the Old Testament. The project maps the tension between public and private space capturing the shifting urban environment of the city as well as the lives lived amid the tumult. While Mecca is home to more than a million residents, it is being transformed to adapt to the geopolitical, technological, environmental, and religious context in which it exists. Human Highway captures these ongoing mutations of the relationship between the land and its inhabitants, including for example the numerous expansion projects of the Jamarat bridge. This body of work asks: Is public space in the Islamic city becoming a luxury item? Is the courtyard becoming a commercial?
The series, including the work Human Highway has been featured in an extensive number of important museum solo and group exhibitions internationally. These include Common Grounds held in 2015 at the Museum Villa Stuck in Munich which marked Mater’s first debut in Germany. A year later, the major show Symbolic Cities: The work of Ahmed Mater at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, presented itself as the first major solo exhibition by a Saudi Arabian artist in the United States. In 2017, the work was included in the show Epicenter X held at the Arab American National Museum exploring contemporary Saudi culture by promoting meaningful dialogue between Saudi artists and U.S. audiences. In the same year, The Brooklyn Museum presented Ahmed Mater: Mecca Journeys, an unprecedented look into the changes unfolding in Mecca. The series was later featured in the show Desert to Delta at the Art Museum of University of Memphis in Tennessee and Drum roll, please at the King Abdullah Economic City in Saudi Arabia, a major solo exhibition exploring the archiving and documentation of Saudi Arabia’s contemporary history.
Born in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia in 1979, Mater is recognised as one of the most esteemed cultural voices documenting and scrutinising the realities of contemporary Saudi Arabia today. While training as a medical student at King Saud University, Abha College of Medicine, he began experimenting using discarded X-rays from the local hospital to make art. In 1999, Mater embarks his artistic journey joining the Al-Meftaha Arts Village, under the patronage of HRH Prince Khalid Al-Faisal. There he began to entwine expressive and politically engaged artistic aims with the scientific objectives of his medical training. His practice spans film, sculpture, photography, and performance, evoking pertinent questions about the paradoxes of faith, science and community in a rapidly changing world. As the co-founder of the Edge of Arabia collective, he has been socially engaged connecting a new generation of Saudi artists with international audiences, including overseeing the first Saudi National Pavilion at the Architecture Exhibition at the Venice Biennale. His work is part of major international collections including The British Museum, London; Victoria & Albert Museum, London; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; and Centre Pompidou, Paris. He currently lives and works in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.