Aya Haidar British-Lebanese, b. 1985

Biography
Aya Haidar

My investigation of the limitations of a visual language within fine art leads me to explore the fundamental elements of language that contribute to a story. This overlap plays on one's senses of memory and imagination. I place myself at the centre of the work, both physically as the object and emotionally as the subject.

 

My current work focuses on the recycling of found and disposable objects making poetic works that explore labour, displacement, domesticity, womanhood and memory, with a particular focus on the Middle East through the histories contained within aged, and culturally specific objects.

 

I further develop this aspect of re-using objects to re-create narratives, to explore memory with a focus on older objects from previous generations. This idea of the development of a generational craft work that spans time, at once explores hand me down skills, stories and community, and by extension, cultural specificity and intercultural nature of British society.

 

My focus on developing inter-cultural dialogues is a vital step in the support of offering alternative ways to see the world, and initiate debate about the globalised world we live in. I see my work contributing to dialogues around global cultures, media and questions of identity, both national and personal.

 

I explore whether the durational aspect of craft, more so than other artforms, expresses concepts of time, through the way in which the hand of the artist is inherent within the medium. Alongside this a consideration of whether the voice is inherent within craft and its histories, alluding to feminist narratives by bringing the domestic into a more discursive platform.

 

By reviewing history, authorship and authenticity, Cultural and historical customs are drawn out. Networks are re-worked where the material shapes the way the viewer identifies with stories and engagement can happen. Stories are recounted, history, authorship and authenticity are again revisited.

Aya Haidar is a London-based artist whose practice is closely engaged with socially-situated and institutionally-led projects. She has contributed to a wide range of public and participatory initiatives, including programmes with UP Projects, Kettle’s Yard, PEER, Camden Art Centre, Shubbak Festival, Mosaic Rooms’ Together Apart: Lockdown Diaries, INIVA’s A Place for Conversation and Emotional Learning Cards, the V&A’s Stitching Borders and Record, Resist, Reframe, and Tate’s Illuminating Cultures. In 2016, she was selected for Do It Arab, curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist and Hoor Al Qasimi.

Her artist residencies include Deveron Projects (Aberdeenshire), Cubitt Arts (London), and Three Rivers Trust (Bexley). Haidar has exhibited widely in both institutional and commercial contexts, with presentations at the Victoria and Albert Museum, Somerset House, the Whitworth, Kettle’s Yard, Cromwell Place, Cubitt, New Art Exchange, Mosaic Rooms, Casa Árabe (Madrid), Beirut Art Week, and Art Berlin Contemporary, alongside participations in major international fairs including FIAC, Frieze London, Art Dubai, Abu Dhabi Art, Art Istanbul, and Jeddah 21,39.

Haidar holds a BA in Fine Art from the Slade School of Fine Art, including an exchange at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and an MSc in NGOs and Development from the London School of Economics and Political Science. Her work has been published in The Guardian, Harper’s Bazaar, Elle, Tribe Magazine, Elephant, and Canvas, among others.

Her work is held in significant institutional collections, including the Victoria and Albert Museum (UK), the Jameel Collection (KSA), the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi (UAE), and the Black Gold Museum (KSA).

 

Aya Haidar lives and works in London.

 

EDUCATION

2008-2009, MSc NGOs and Development (Merit), London School of Economics and Political Science, London, UK
2004-2008, BA Fine Art, 21, Slade School of Fine Art, UCL, London, UK
2006-2007, Student Exchange, Fibre and Materials Studies Department, School of the Art Institute, Chicago, US
2003-2004, Foundation Course, Chelsea College of Art and Design, London, UK

Exhibitions
Press