Points Known and Unknown

2024 - Ongoing

Beyond Space could be a fitting subtitle for this work because it is about experiencing physical space, but from a different vantage point: besides the obvious visual/tactile qualities of space is something a little less tangible that’s related to time and history. In this case it is not a history in the traditional sense, but more of an imagined history derived from subtle hints that are found mostly by chance. The work is a survey of the land in a visual sense but focuses on these subtle hints to extend its vision to the past.

Outside its main urban centres, the landscapes of Saudi Arabia are wild and harsh, often appearing completely untouched by man. They are magnificent and invoke a time long before civilization, but are also shrouded in mystery because these are not places of pristine nature; the vast arid lands have been home to humans for thousands of years and contain abundant traces left behind to tell us about a time they served a different purpose.

Points Known and Unknown takes its title from a process used to survey the land that can be summed up as “the science of making precise measurements between known and unknown points to determine accurate positional locations.” In a similar manner, Points Known and Unknown uses its known points (the landscapes as seen today) and its unknown points (the traces of their memory) to accurately arrive at a meaning of a place that is perhaps not completely scientific but is more nuanced and precise.