Capturing Light
Part of the series Capturing Light, the photograms were taken in a studio in the familiar environment of her home in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Drawing on her own familial and cultural experiences, the collection sheds light on the irony of perceiving objects as priceless but
simultaneously representational of greedy, superficial consumerism. There is a sense of familiarity in these photograms, something
comforting in recollecting childhood memories. But it is also quite disconcerting how our childhood can be traced back to tangible objects.
The unresolved conflict between brutal commercialism and canny memories is what lies at the heart of this series.

‘A memorabilia that will give us comfort as we get older is transformed from what was once trivial; it may become powerful again.’
– Maha Malluh

Materialism, triviality and superficiality battle with a desire to hold on to our distant past, to fossilize and make concrete our
experiences of an ideal era of innocence and naivety in this collection. Objects are in reality inanimate objects, projecting our
fickleness through time: they transform from objects serving our needs, to abandoned items occupying a place in boxes and storage,
to memorabilia comforting us. Its marks the capriciousness of our post-modern age, how we can move these objects like chess pieces to
either positions of authority or subordination. However, our own vulnerability is exposed as we yearn for idealism, for those precious
moments to stand victorious and be eternal through physical representation. We empower these objects in order for them to eternalise
our experiences.
What underlies this process is the transformation of commercial exchange to sentimental exchange.
Paying for a phone for self-gratification becomes empowering an object to fossilize our reminiscences of our past.
Moreover, the title "Capturing Light" bears a weighty significance here with respect to the darkness and aesthetic emptiness of the objects.
Objects and reports revolving around the medical arena carry with them an air of bareness.
Yet the beauty that underlies this collection is how even in the apparent aesthetic emptiness of the medical world, with time, beauty can
be discovered, making the objects priceless and valuable to us. 'Capturing light' is about how we move away from the darkness of our
commercial wastelands to an enlightened sensibility.