The Third Line is proud to welcome back Arwa Abouon, with a new body of work that explores the artist’s own private journey in matters of spirituality, personal dynamics and human nature’s quest towards understanding faith.

As a thematic continuation from her previous work, this photographic series draws from the artist’s personal experiences and self-reflection, attempting to articulate such abstract and elusive notions as human emotion and in particular one’s relationship with faith. Through her photography, Abouon’s on-going spiritual investigation takes her audience into the systematic process in which the artist draws her conclusions about self, piety and her role within society. The artist reveals through her work that the most effective way of learning involves repetition, particularly through trial and error, ultimately leading us to our truest and highest potential.

Borrowing from historical Islamic adornment, traditions and idioms, the artist playfully highlights her introspective pilgrimage with the use of digitally enhanced photography. The subject of her series further underpins her personal approach to this study, capturing a fleeting moment of shared emotion of her greatest inspiration: her parents. Balancing playful humor, re-appropriation and respectful homage, Abouon’s work is visually intricate and subtle yet remains, as ever, powerful in its delivery.