Taking art closer to her audiences

An Emirati artist has incorporated her passion for maths and science into her works to make them more socially relevant. Ebtisam Abdul Aziz recently offered an insight into her work at the ‘Art Conversations' session at the Dubai Ladies Club, a monthly series of open discussions on art facilitated by leading art experts from the local and international art scene. ‘Art Conversations' is one of several new initiatives launched by Funoon the art division of the Dubai Ladies Club that aims to educate and expose the public to a diverse range of cultural expressions. "People see things from different perspectives, and I want to involve people in my works because there's a huge gap between the audience and me. It's also a way to educate the audience and they [in turn] feel great because they are involved," explained Ebtisam. One of her most recognisable works is her Autobiography07 performance, wherein Ebtisam made a one-piece outfit with numbers from her bank statement printed on it. She then got models to pose along the streets of Sharjah, such as along the Buheira Corniche and opposite Sharjah Port, so that pedestrians and motorists could not help but notice the models as they posed on medians, near municipality dumpsters, or in coffee shops. "The concept of this piece was to show people that the more money you have, you can sleep anywhere. But if you don't have any, then you have to resort to sleeping on the grass. I posed for some of the pictures and there were children who were calling me Spider Woman because they were so surprised by what I was wearing." Ebtisam says she tries to make a minimalistic statement as she does not want to distract her audience from the concept she is portraying. One of her creations caught the eye of Deutsche Bank which later displayed some of her pieces from a series titled ‘Word into Art' at its central offices. However, drawing and carrying out installations is not the only artistic avenue that Ebtisam has been taking. In fact, she already has her eyes set on other projects. "One of my goals is to publish a book on conceptual art in Arabic, so that students can read about in schools and learn more about performance arts," she added. From / Gulf News