Desert X 2021, the site-specific, contemporary art exhibition that is held in the Coachella Valley in Southern California, is bringing the work of 13 artists for its third iteration. Desert X is an annual art biennial which displays the works of international artists and is showcasing the art works of two Arab Artists, Ghada Amer and Zahrah Alghamdi.
Saudi artist Zahrah Alghamdi is showcasing her installation “What Lies Behind the Walls”. The work is a monolithic wall comprised of 6,000 tiles containing local soils such as cements, solids and dyes specific to each region. Visitors are encouraged to walk around the structure which draws links between the desert of Alghamdi’s homeland and that of the California valley.
Alghamdi said she was inspired by what happened at the US-Mexico border during the Trump presidency. “There should never be walls in between people, in between countries. I took it as a sign that I have to create a wall that shows our similarities and how we can join as a culture and not separate from each other”, she said.
Egyptian artist Ghada Amer who is based in New York continues her ‘Women’s Qualities’ series, where she asks men and women in the Coachella valley to share words that describe the quality with which they identify and to which they have been ascribed. The final result is a group of words that have been arranged in the form of a circle at Sunnylands Centre and Gardens, which will be on view until Sunday, June 6. The work reads the words: loving, nurturing, resilient, strong, caring, determined and beautiful.
The exhibition line-up also includes Felipe Baeza from Mexico, Serge Attukwei Clottey from Ghana, Alicja Kwade from Poland, Oscar Murillo from Colombia, and Vivian Suter from Argentina. From the US, the artists are Judy Chicago, Nicholas Galanin, Christopher Myers, Eduardo Sarabia (though based in Mexico), Xaviera Simmons and Kim Stringfellow.