Folklore is not a thing of the past. It is a living thread woven into the present. Fragments of Folklore invites you into a dialogue between heritage and innovation where memory is not preserved, but reimagined.
Bringing together four visionary artists — Lulwah Al Homoud, Rashid Al Khalifa, Raeda Ashour, and Hamra Abbas — this exhibition explores how sacred geometry, calligraphy, materiality, and pattern are translated into contemporary artistic languages. Each work on view is a fragment of a larger story, shaped by culture, personal history, and the impulse to reinvent. Each of their works carries fragments not of story, but of form: the golden grid, the architectural shadow, the embossed palm, the sacred mountain. Together, they reveal that what we often call heritage is not what is preserved in archives, but what persists through pattern.
Installed in Riyadh’s JAX District, at the intersection of Saudi Arabia’s cultural renaissance, the exhibition unfolds like a labyrinth. Designed as an architectural maze inspired by the Najd region, the space echoes the layered complexity of folklore itself. Pathways of acacia wood guide you through moments of revelation, intimacy, and abstraction where ancient forms meet modern expressions.
In Fragments of Folklore, memory is not preserved in a glass case. It is encoded in geometry, suspended in light, pressed into paper, and mapped in stone.
Conceived, organised, and curated by THAA (Saudi Arabia), MIR’A Art (Paris/Middle East), and TRIYAD (Belgium), Fragments of Folklore coincides with Saudi Arabia’s Year of Handicrafts 2025, expanding the notion of heritage beyond preservation towards participation, transformation, and reinvention.
Press release from Jax District
Image: Installation view of Fragments of Folklore, Jax District, 2025.
