Brittle
*Monotype and monoprint on paper
The work I’ve done is inspired by the brittle and often unreliable nature of nostalgia and the fragmentation of memory. I used the metaphor of my old neighborhood in the heart of Abu Dhabi, what was originally Electra Street has changed to Fatima bint Mubarak Street. I collected objects from around my old neighborhood, such as plastic wire, pill casings, bottle caps, plastic bags, and such. I monotyped an approximation of the surrounding buildings onto paper and cut it up, while monoprinting these objects onto individual pieces using colors that resembled the palette of the city; greens, blues, greys and browns. Nostalgia is often romanticized; an unreachable ideal from the past, that, when revisited, often disappoints or changes from expectations. I’ve often felt that Abu Dhabi is difficult to feel nostalgic about, because of the rapid change and how that is so embedded into our surroundings that the city itself feels different upon every visit. ◆
Contact Aliyah through: @aliyahalawadhi on Instagram.