Artist
Ahmed Mater
Via Mecca, Saudi Arabia
An artist and medical doctor, Ahmed Mater combines notes from his medical education with a palimpsest of religious symbols and cultural references. Mater was born in 1979 and raised in Rijal Alma, an Aseeri village in an expansive valley on the trade route between Makkah and Sana’a that has retained its traditional architecture and culture in the face of encroaching development. Mater remembers how his mother, a painter of traditional Aseeri houses and a calligrapher, introduced him to Arabian and Islamic art. From an early age she taught him that art was a way to preserve his culture, his heritage and his religion. These traditional values became the foundation of Mater's daily routine, helping to shape his approach to life. Mater has shown his work both in group exhibitions across the world, including in London, Paris, Venice, Los Angeles, Cairo and Tokyo, and in solo shows in Abha, Dubai and London.
