The multifaceted collaborative work of Saudi artist Sarah Brahim is making waves; in advance of her presentation at the Lyon Biennale in September, the Riyadh-based choreographer, dancer, and artist talked about her modern art.
Since she was barely three years old, Brahim, 30, has studied dance, which, in her opinion, has provided a solid foundation for her profession as a visual artist.
Because of my training in dance, I was able to research the body in space, the body in motion, and sensations of the body, including how the body interacts with architecture, music, and silence. “All of these encounters equipped me for the way I express myself today. My current practise is both research-based and experimental. I often work with something that is strong, important, or powerful in whichever media is most appropriate to portray it.
Jazz, modern, ballet, and tap dance were all forms of dance that Brahim, who describes herself as a performance and visual artist, studied, choreographed, performed, and taught. She studied dance at the San Francisco Conservatory of Dance and earned a bachelor’s degree in contemporary dance from the London Contemporary Dance School in 2016.
Since then, she has worked with experienced actors in the US, Europe, and the Middle East, exploring a range of issues in her performances, films, and installation pieces.
The issues of loss, identity, boundaries, veiling, migration, the experiences of women of colour, and those leading transnational lives have all been investigated by the artist. In addition to the US, the UK, Saudi Arabia, and Italy, Brahim has shown her art all over the world.
The same piece will be displayed by Brahim in September at the Lyon Biennale, which will run from September 14 through December 31 and was initially scheduled to debut in 2021. Sam Bardaouil and Till Fellrath, a curatorial team that has long collaborated with artists from the Arab world, explore the theme of fragility in this year’s pandemic-postponed edition.
