Product Description

Nibras Al-Salman

Ceramic Design - Central Saint Martins

Sculptural Piece, 2022
W 45 cm x D 45 cm x H 20 cm
Original

"The work explores the tension between two opposing ideas by contrasting the delicacy and fragility of books with the coarseness and robustness of bricks. Ideas such as censorship and freedom of expression; good and evil, light and darkness. The work was inspired by the character Don Quixote who, it was said, lost his mind because he read too many books. Books from his library were burnt and the library door was bricked up, so he had no access to his remaining books. Authorities always thought of new media that spread knowledge faster, as subversive and needed to be controlled. The modern equivalent of Don Quixote is the man who lost his mind because he watched too much television, in Salman Rushdie’s Quishotte."

Nibras Al-Salman’s interest in architecture and engineering often surfaces in his work, while Middle Eastern culture and art are important influences on his designs. Decay and destruction, particularly in reference to buildings, are especially apparent in his work, partly influenced by the decayed historic buildings in his native Iraq and the recent wars in the Middle East that have imposed a high price on life and living conditions in the region.