What Happens Now?
Sama Shahrouri
Bovine Interior, pencil on paper, 42 x 59 cm, 2018
Shahrouri’s latest series focused on displacement. Man-made interiors are inhabited by motionless animals. Their unusual presence in the environment indicates their acquisition of the space. They are seen as calm and in a state of deep sleep, seemingly unaware of the peculiar elements that slowly invade the area in the form of geometric stars. The clutter of texture and color inside the pattern contrasts with the clear and plain surfaces of the surrounding walls. And as white light enters, the sleeping animals are given a hopeless warning of an impending attack.
Sama Shahrouri was born in Amman, Jordan in 1994. With a background in sculpture and an intense love for learning, she taught Visual Arts at a local school (or international? Ask artist) for two years after completing her BA. In those two years, she focused on figurative drawing and sketching. She participated in multiple group exhibitions and art programs with multimedia works including drawings on paper, installations and video art. In her work, Shahrouri experiments with the contrasts of concepts and ideas relating to childhood memory and the human condition, trying to find the grey areas in between.