Nora Al Mazrooa

Biography

Nora grew up between Saudi Arabia & Spain, being nurtured in two parallel worlds, that are significantly diverse; culturally, she never found herself perfectly fitting in either one of them, but rather inhabiting a news space in-between. She majored in Islamic Educational Art, from KAU, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. She was later awarded a Masters degree in Ceramics from the Cardiff school of Art & Design. That experience enabled her to shift perspectives, re-exploring the definition of beauty in her values. she currently works as a lecturer in the college of Art & design at Jeddah University.

The Art

Nora has been exhibiting locally and internationally, in Wales, United Kingdom, she also exhibited with Edge of Arabia in 2013 Venice’s biennale. She was a speaker in “A 1000 Miles Apart’ which is an annual ceramic’s conference, that took place in the University of Regina, Canada. She won the “Lorenzo di Medici award” in her Florence Biennale participation in 2015. When asked what inspired her painting, Nora responded with the following: “The painting represents a ritual that is embedded in our Arabic culture, it is enjoyed around the clock, which is sipping on Arabic coffee.” “The gold leaf signifies the dunes glistening under the sun, as well as the warmth of my Homeland, I wanted to create a contrast in terms of colour, between the white embellished set of cups, and the golden background.” “The cups were placed on 12.3.6.9 to imply that it takes place all day long, in a rounded setting, (the dial’s shape) as the gathering usually takes place in that manner.” “It was rather challenging to paint in such a small space, but I’ve made a lot of experimentation and learned a lot through this project, and it was such an honor to take part.”