In The Name Of The Materials

This unique artwork is from the private collection of the artist, it is also documented in her book “Hanaa Malallah: 5.50.1.1.40.1.30.1.30.30.5” published 2018. This work was shown in her solo exhibition entitled “Vivid Ruins” at the Mosaic Rooms of the Qattan Foundation, London in 2009. In line with Malallah’s material-centric insignia, the concept of this particular work revolves around her interest in testing and preserving the integrity of the different materials. In this work she demonstrates how different materials can coexist while respecting the essential essence of each other despite their organic differences.

The composition of “In the Name of the Material” consists of two parts: The top part: A frieze that consists of six (6) squares, 20x20cm each and signifying different material as follows; from left to right first a square of wooden rulers the numbers of which are selected by the artist with a numerological rational, followed by a square that is a mirror, followed by a square of thick paint of lead (dull grey), then a raw wood sheet that has been scratched and engraved to bring out its fabric with a dried tree branch on it, next to it, an old handwritten text which talks about materials, ending with a burnt canvas mounted on wood board.

Below this frieze is a meter by meter and twenty-centimeter rectangle wood board which records a random mesh of lines that conquer the wide space. These lines were created by engraving the wood surface, by so doing the artist was studying this material and challenging it. The dark grey color of the lines resulted from treating the engraved lines with different materials over few stages. As an onlooker, one can see a sharp contrast between the supple curved lines and the angular lines of the structure of the work represented in the six squares of the frieze and the main rectangle, yet these supple round movement of the lines seem to take their power and inspiration from the calligraphy of the frieze’s 5th square.