Culture

The art of transformation: Jamal Tayara-Baroudy turns plant to rainbow

26 Oct 2023

Plant product seen at the exhibition.

Muhammad Yusuf, Features Writer

Tashkeel, one of the UAE’s key art and design incubators, has unveiled Ways of Seeing (Oct. 24 – Nov. 28), a solo exhibition by Lebanese artist Jamal Tayara-Baroudy as part of its 2023 autumn season.

Being hosted at FN Designs, Alserkal Avenue, the show marks the artist’s first solo in Dubai, where she is outlining her multifaceted artistic talents, spanning graphic design, eco-printing, and installation. The exhibition consists of a new body of work of the artist, the 17th graduate of Tashkeel’s Critical Practice Programme (CPP). As part of the CPP project, she was mentored by curator Lesley Ann Gray and Dr. Mohammad Abiad, Associate Professor and Director of the Laboratories for the Environment, Agriculture and Food (LEAF) at the American University of Beirut.

Commenting on the exhibition, Tayara-Baroudy said that “Ways of Seeing explores the profound connections between human experiences, geography and memory. I have done extensive research over the past 18 months, exploring the giant milkweed, Calotropis Procera, and its connection to heritage and human experiences. The artwork I have created is a re-evaluation of our relationship with nature and the inherent value of flora.”

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She was always connected to Nature, ever since she grew up in Lebanon, her home country. “It has the largest pine forest in the Middle East and is a reservoir of plant diversity,” she says. This imprinted itself into her childhood memories, serving as a foundation for her fascination with the natural world. The forest stayed with her, as did her reflections on what she lost due to the rupture of her connections to Nature. It developed into a love of living things – biophilia – which is at the heart of her visual practice now.

Here she has approached Calotropis Procera as an ethnobotanist, using scientific research to explore the different materials that can be made from it. The plant has medicinal uses in Ayurveda, environmental uses in the petroleum industry, social uses as textile and stuffing for pillows, industrial uses as rope and charcoal, its leaves are used for roofing, its sap makes latex and it is also used in agriculture. Through a series of presentations that includes photographs, illustrations and commodities, Tayara-Baroudy shows how this is done.

A viewer engrossed in the exhibition.

“I adopted a process-based approach to this exhibition, breaking the plant down into its constituent, useful elements, then reconfiguring and rebuilding them into artwork,” she says. “It has been a laborious process,” she adds. “The harvest requires time, patience and repetition. Everything has been gathered and classified individually and by hand.” Tayara-Baroudy’s encounter with Calotropis Procera has been intimate and symbiotic. It has been an emotional and thoughtful interaction, where the heart and hand were both at work. Sentimentally drawn to the plant, she adopted a consistent, methodical examination to document it. She has used geotagging technology to meticulously pinpoint the locations from where she harvested the fruits for her artistic tapestries.

She has layered various elements of the plant into the artwork after exploring aspects of its materiality. “It considers how the natural world speaks to us and gives us so much,” she says of her show. “It echoes my childhood, when the pine forest gave me so many beautiful experiences. With Calotropis Procera, I am listening, understanding and using my art to help the plant speak.”

“The exhibition is a showcase and intersection of art, science and profound beauty,” says Sheikha Lateefa bint Maktoum, Tashkeel Founder. “Jamal Tayara-Baroudy’s journey explores a fascination, curiosity, questioning and dissection – literally and metaphorically – of the Calotropis Procera, which has led to the creation of an exceptional series of work that is as visually stunning as it is intellectually enlightening.” In addition to artist-led exhibition tours on November 5 and 19 (11am-12pm, 12-1pm), the artist will be in conversation on October 31 (6:30 - 7:30 pm), while on October 29 and November 26 (3–5pm), she will run two drawing workshops, especially for younger visitors (9-14yrs).

A graduate of the Lebanese American University, Tayara-Baroudy has made a significant contribution to the UAE art scene with her branding agency JamJar Design established in 2002 and her art studio, Art Like This, founded in 2011. Driven by the idea of the garden as a conceptual manifestation of Paradise, she is absorbed by the tension between the natural and human worlds.

Her artmaking focuses on the transformation of organic materials; she shapes materials from plants she harvests. She further analyses natural forms through forensic rubbings, markings, digital scanning and drawings in ink and pencil and blends the digital and analogue, exploring the intersection of science and art.The result is a dynamic practice that is an ongoing dialogue between the artist and nature, something that constantly evolves with the landscape itself. Tayara-Baroudy has been a member of Tashkeel since 2016 and has exhibited in venues across Dubai and Sharjah.

CPP helps develop UAE-based talent by offering studio support, training, critique and production for practising artists. Artists’ programmes are carefully constructed around their practice and/or research areas. Tashkeel is an incubator of visual art and design and a commercial consultancy established in the UAE. Founded in Dubai in 2008 by Sheikha Lateefa bint Maktoum, its annual programme of training, residencies, workshops, talks, exhibitions, international collaborations and publications have the aim to further practitioner development, public engagement and lifelong learning. By nurturing the growth of contemporary art and design, it seeks to empower the country’s ever-growing creative and cultural industries.