A pioneer in Saudi Arabia’s contemporary art movement, Lulwah Al Hamoud is celebrated for an intricate process that uses Arabic letters to form absorbingly complex abstract works on paper.

The three pieces included in this exhibition showcase Al Hamoud’s signature practice. In each work, a pattern of black ink lines forms a web that vibrates with varying intensity across the whiteness of the paper. A series of contrasts illuminate the works: black and white; density and lightness; abstraction and representation. Behind these rhythmic abstractions is an intellectual process by which Al Hamoud learned the mathematical codes behind the Arabic alphabet and then employed those codes to break down the letters into the building blocks for geometrical designs. The processes that comprise the intricate symmetry of these forms align the spiritual with the mathematical, highlighting a delicate balance between realms of logic, language, and mysticism.

Born in Riyadh, Al Hamoud studied sociology at King Saud University before receiving a master’s degree from Central Saint Martins College of Arts and Design (formerly known as the Central School of Art and Design) in London. She trained with distinguished Pakistani calligrapher Rasheed Butt, and her work is inspired by the renowned Egyptian calligrapher Ahmed Moustafa. Lulwah Al Hamoud lives and works in the UK.