Ahmed Mater (b. 1979) is one of Saudi Arabia’s most renowned and influential creative figures. Yet he took an unconventional route into the art world, starting with a series of “X-ray paintings” made whilst practising medicine in the early 2000s. Since then, he has become a prolific and prominent cultural voice in the Middle East.

The physician-turned-artist is now working on a monumental Land Art  commission for Wadi AlFann, Valley of the Arts, AlUla, titled Ashab Al-Lal. His new large-scale artwork is inspired by scientific and philosophical thinkers of the Islamic Golden Age and will explore the mythic space between subjective imagination and objective reality by generating a mirage within the sand dunes of AlUla, in the desert region of north-west Saudi Arabia steeped in thousands of years of natural, historical and cultural heritage.

Today, Ahmed Mater: Chronicles, a major mid-career retrospective, opens at Christie’s in London, where an extraordinary preview of the artist’s site-specific commission for Wadi AlFann, AlUla takes centre stage. Mater is one of the first five artists commissioned to create site-specific Land Art installations for Wadi AlFann, AlUla, which will start welcoming visitors in 2025.  

Ahmed Mater: Chronicles, is at Christie’s, London from 17 July – 22 August | christies.com

Director: Lisa Rovner
Still Image: Render of Ashab Al-Lal by Ahmed Mater at Wadi AlFann, AlUla.
Courtesy of the Royal Commission for AlUla.