NASO Interviews: Roudhah Al Mazrouei
On Art of Memory & Place
“Art has always been tied to the places I come from.”
On Roots
Born and raised in Al Ain, the artist’s family hails from the northern region of the Emirates. Today, she is based in Abu Dhabi, a city that bridges tradition and transformation. Her connection to place runs deep — from “the mountains of Siji to the oasis of Al Ain and the waters of Saadiyat.” These landscapes are not just home; they are threads that bind her practice to memory, belonging, and environment.
On Learning & Influence
Having studied Art and Art History at NYU Abu Dhabi and later completing an MFA at the Royal College of Art in London, her academic journey has been one of both introspection and expansion. “Art has always been tied to the places I come from,” she reflects. Her education helped her weave together these physical and emotional geographies, transforming them into a visual language rooted in cultural memory and material resonance.
On Living Archives
The artist’s practice engages deeply with the concept of cultural memory, often through materials such as charcoal (sikham), saffron paste (snaah), and rocks. “I approach them as living archives that hold both personal and collective histories,” she explains. Charcoal, once used to purify water in wells, becomes for her a metaphor of endurance and preservation. “It’s not only a material of drawing or burning,” she says, “but also one of care.”
Her use of snaah—a traditional paste of saffron, mahlep, and water once used as perfume-extends this idea into the sensory realm. “Snaah carries the scent of memory,” she notes. “It holds history through the senses, lasting days on the body.” Influenced by thinkers such as Derrida and Hal Foster, she views snaah as a “sensory record,” a form of archiving that operates beyond the visual.
On Research, Community & the Role of Art
As a Kawader Research Fellow at the Al Mawrid Arab Center for the Study of Art, her research examines how art institutions in the UAE evolved from the 1960s onward-often beginning as informal gatherings before becoming formalized structures. “Participation and accessibility have always been at the core of art here,” she explains. This ethos continues to inform her public artworks today, which she designs to “invite people in, create dialogue, and reflect the social role that art has always played in the UAE.”
On Surrealism & Reimagining Identity
Describing her practice as one that includes “surrealist interventions,” she uses surrealism as a means of expanding cultural narratives. “Surrealism allows me to reimagine what being Emirati means,” she says. “It’s a way to re-interpret, to let my perspective shine as someone who carries this identity proudly every day.” Through this lens, her art becomes an act of both personal and collective redefinition—one that situates Emirati identity within a broader, imaginative continuum.
On Transformation & the Future
Her recent painting Yehla III (2025, oil on canvas, 60 x 75 cm) embodies the themes that permeate her practice: endurance, transformation, and continuity. Inspired by a 1963 archival photograph of a woman from the Siji or Masafi region carrying a water jug, the work connects the daily labor of Emirati women with the “weight of memory and cultural continuity.” She explains, “carrying water, once a necessity for survival, becomes a symbol of resilience, balance, and grace.”
Through her art, she envisions a future where “rapid urbanization doesn’t erase our relationship with the land.” Instead, she hopes to keep the mountains, valleys, oases, and sea alive as “active presences in daily life.” By engaging multiple senses-sight, smell, touch—her work extends beyond visual representation, inviting global audiences to experience Emirati culture as something living, evolving, and deeply human.