NASO Interviews: Hayfa AlGwaiz
On Architectural Painting
On Hayfa:
"I describe myself as an architectural painter."
For the artist, architecture remains an intrinsic element of her practice, though she engages with it conceptually rather than technically. What once felt like a division between painting and architectural representation has now merged into a singular artistic identity-her works are not merely architectural paintings; they are architectural paintings. This evolution reflects a broader shift in her perspective, where space, structure, and form are explored through the lens of both disciplines. By embracing the duality of architect and painter, she navigates the intersection of built environments and artistic expression, redefining how space can be depicted, interpreted, and felt on canvas
On Technique:
When discussing her artistic process, the artist emphasized the role of medium in shaping her work. She primarily paints on washi paper and canvas, drawn to washi for its unique properties — it starts flat, and as you paint on it, the paper wrinkles, creating a texture that she describes as evoking nostalgia. The speed of her work varies dramatically depending on the surface; while her washi paintings can be completed in just two days, her acrylic pieces demand significantly more time, ranging from 15 days to three months depending on scale and complexity. As she refines her technique, she notes a growing efficiency in her practice, though some acrylic works still test her patience, with the longest piece requiring an extended commitment to completion
On ‘Palace for Sale’, 2024
"I like photos that look like paintings and paintings that look like photos."
The artist recalls the challenge of completing her largest piece to date-a 1.8 by 1-meter painting that originally demanded a three-month commitment. Known for her fascination with the interplay between photography and painting, she strives to blur the boundaries between the two, crafting paintings that resemble photographs. The piece itself explores architectural perspective, rendered in crayon-like strokes, examining the delicate balance of positive and negative space within the urban landscape. She reflects on how emptiness can sometimes carry a greater presence than what is physically there, a theme that resonates deeply in her artistic philosophy.
On her Misk Grant:
The artist's exploration of space and identity takes a deeply personal turn (in her works produced for the Misk Art Grant), where she layers a painting with a drawing using double glass, creating a dynamic interplay between form and depth. This dual-layered approach mirrors the complexity of the abaya—a garment that both conceals and reveals, signifying identity, religious expression, and social context. Rather than viewing the abaya through a Western lens of oppression, she reframes it as a sculptural, deeply meaningful object, rich in cultural significance. Her inspiration is rooted in memory and domestic life, drawn from the presence of abayas draped around her home-objects that, for her, symbolized the presence of loved ones. She sees them as portraits of Saudi women, representations not through faces but through repeated cultural motifs. Her work delves into the nuances of private life in Saudi culture, where the home is the epicenter of relationships, conversation, and tradition. Through her art, she captures the quiet yet profound weight of domestic spaces, transforming everyday objects into vessels of identity and storytelling.
On Theme:
"It's usually about space, but it's two categories: interior, and most of my interior is domestic space. Specifically, the Saudi home, our context, and what it means to live in a Saudi home."
The artist's work is deeply rooted in the exploration of space, divided into two thematic categories: the interior and the exterior. Her interior-focused pieces primarily depict domestic spaces, with a particular emphasis on the Saudi home-its materials, geometry, and spatial organization, all of which she began to see in a new light after returning from abroad. Through her paintings, she examines how Saudi households segment space, create adjacencies, and reflect cultural values tied to family, religion, and tradition. In contrast, her exterior works shift toward a broader lens, questioning the evolving identity of urban Saudi Arabia. She investigates what painting within the Saudi home represents today, capturing the transformation of cities, the passage of time, and the tension between tradition and modernization. Notably, her paintings remain devoid of human figures, allowing the spaces themselves to speak, evoking a quiet introspection on the nature of place and belonging.
On ‘A Piece of Meat or a Woman’s Body’, 2024
"It's really about unexpected moments, you know, things that I see in passing.."
The artist's creative process is driven by fleeting, unexpected moments — visual encounters that spark deeper reflections on identity, culture, and society. One such moment occurred in a Chinese restaurant, where she noticed the eerie resemblance of a hanging piece of meat to a bust of a female nude. Captivated by the unsettling imagery, she photographed it, recognizing in it a profound metaphor for the experience of womanhood as being an object to be consumed. This instinctive observation-based approach fuels much of her work, but she acknowledges the challenge of generating ideas on demand, particularly during residencies.
On her Evolution:
The artist's journey began with a love for pencils and acrylic paints, though she kept them separate until she fully committed to her artistic practice. This shift led to her series The Methods of World-Making, where she explores perception and open-ended interpretation, drawing inspiration from Umberto Eco's theories. Her work resists singular readings-what she sees in a painting is just as valid as what the viewer perceives, and that perception shifts depending on time, mental state, and perspective. A composition might resemble a hole in the ground, a building's façade, or a staircase, depending on the viewer's position. At the core of her practice is a fascination with subverting function— taking materials designed for a specific, utilitarian purpose and transforming them into ambiguous, open-ended visual narratives. This approach invites the audience to engage with her work on their own terms, challenging conventional meaning. As her career evolved, she began experimenting further with reduction, erasure, and negative space, embracing the power of absence as much as presence. Her work continues to be an evolving dialogue between form, perception, and the fluidity of meaning.
On the Present:
"I'm really interested in the topic of ornamentation, it's cultural, social and economic meaning in space. Linking the metal ornaments found on windows and doors between the two geographies of Saudi Arabia and France."
Lately, her interest has gravitated toward ornamentation, a subject shaped by her architectural studies in the U.S. There, she encountered Adolf Loos's Ornament and Crime, a manifesto that equated ornamentation with primitiveness and femininity while advocating for minimalism. Yet, as a Saudi artist, she sees ornamentation through a different lens— one of beauty, identity, and even safety. To her, embellishment is not excess but a cultural language, a way to define and protect space, much like the decorative facades that beautify urban landscapes. Now, during her residency at POUSH in Paris, She is researching the nuances and deeper associations of ornamentation at moments of threshold or division, exploring how ornamentation has traveled across cultures and how it continues to shape the visual identity of urban environments.