The Mountains Quiver in Anticipation

Bashaer Hawsawi explores cycles of building, demolition, and rebuilding that characterise the reality of development in many cities globally. In particular, she contends with the state of ongoing change in the urban landscape of Jeddah, drawing on memories of her old home and its surrounding neighbourhoods. Using new and old bricks, she creates sculptural studies that speak to both the memories of what has passed as well as the process of constructing what is to come - an act of both preservation and re-imagination. Some formations suggest human figures that reference moments from Hawasawi’s memories in her old neighbourhood. Others are abstracted forms that are precariously balanced – like small brick fragments perched delicately between jagged shapes that barely touch - leaving us anticipating their potential fall, unsure of where or how they may land. They capture moments-in-progress, much like the juncture many denizens of the city find themselves in now – somewhere simultaneously in the midst and on the verge of changes.

Hawsawi’s practice of play and experimentation - making something new and yet unfinished with old materials - reflects not only her personal state of mind in a moment of personal transition and the feelings of precarity that many living in the midst of rapidly changing landscapes share, but also speaks more broadly to the cyclical nature of change.