Al Zannoba Journey

Overview

Abdullah Al Saadi presents a series of works produced during his SB12 commission Al Zannoba Journey (2015). This project continues previous journeys the artist has undertaken over several years and records the landscape he encounters and his experience in nature. Al Zannoba Journey is an extension of Al Saadi’s The Watermelon Series, The Comparative Journey and most notably, The Stone Slippers (Al Zannoba) (all 2013).

For this journey, Al Saadi planned to walk wearing zannoba, or slippers, made by the artist from rubber and goat skin. Following a specific route through mountain areas and villages in the eastern region of the UAE, Al Saadi attempted to remain self-sufficient, transporting his supplies and belongings in a wheelbarrow. Both slippers and wheelbarrow failed him, cutting his feet and refusing to move along the steep, uneven path. But Al Saadi persevered, each limit along the way providing fuel for reflection and reconsideration. Al Saadi documented his journey in various ways, including a GoPro camera attached to the wheelbarrow, thirty-one small paintings of the landscape employing different perspectival orientations, a journal recording his daily activities and maplike paintings on stones collected while travelling. Together these elements locate the changing relationship between nature and man.

This project was part of Sharjah Biennial 12