Mariam M. Alnoaimi

Bahrain

Mariam M. Alnoaimi (b. 1990, Manama, Bahrain, where she lives and works) earned her BA in Interior Design from the University of Bahrain (2013) and her MA in Urban Design from the University of Colorado (2017).

Her work has been exhibited in numerous group exhibitions both regionally and internationally, including at NYUAD Art Gallery (Abu Dhabi); Hayy Jameel (Saudi Arabia); The Bahrain Annual Fine Arts Exhibition (every edition from 44th–50th, as well as 40th and 41st editions), Muharraq Nights Festival, Al Riwaq Art Space, Bahrain National Theater, Bahrain National Museum (all Bahrain); and Saatchi Gallery (UK).

In 2019, Alnoaimi exhibited her work as part of The Wait, a parallel exhibition to the Venice Biennale in Italy.

Looking at water as a medium of politics and poetics through which stories are told, the work aims to unravel narratives that often have multiple layers of geography, ecology, and collective memories.

The work is a contemplation on how the geographical body of water has been constantly relocating, which has resulted in transforming the identities of people that built up around it. After the oil discovery, there have been massive urban and social changes; the two liquids, oil and water, act as counterplays that shape our past and present realities.

The work builds on the Epic of Gilgamesh as a mythological prayer, reflecting what was once a reality or an imagined reality of the abundance of water on the land of eternity, Dilmun. As Enki, the god of fresh water, says: “Let the sun bring Dilmun sweet water from the earth. Let Dilmun drink the water of abundance. Let her springs become springs of sweet water.”

The project explores the poetic and tragic narratives that are unfolded in the presence and absence of water, which provides a framework to think through the geography of water, social experiences, climate change, and urbanism. The work is an iteration of Shifting Waters (2021).

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