Critical Writing Index

The Making Of...: Sophia al-Maria

by Stephanie Bailey

Art AsiaPacific, Sept/Oct, no. 90

Artist profile on Sofia al-Maria. Al-Maria's work as an artist is informed by her birth and upbringing in the United States and her family's subsequent move to the Arabian Gulf, where she attended university. Her earliest works concern the effects of "a hyper-consumerist capitalism machine" on Arabian society, a concept the artist calls "Gulf Futurism." The article discusses the al-Maria's forthcoming exhibition, "Virgin with a Memory" which is based around her unfinished film, Beretta. The film, named after an Italian firearm brand, is a rape-revenge thriller that depicts what al-Maria wished she could do to the various sexual aggressors she encountered Saudi Arabia.

ITEM 2014.053 – available for viewing in the Research Centre

Videos, Artworks and Artists Cited

Liminal: A New Frangrance by TAZ – Sofia al-Maria

Between Distant Bodies No. 1 + No. 2 – Sofia al-Maria

Beretta – Sofia al-Maria

Slaughter – Sofia al-Maria

Class A – Sofia al-Maria

Your Sister – Sofia al-Maria

Evil Eye – Sofia al-Maria

The Watchers No.1-5 – Sofia al-Maria