emirati 2051

emirati 2051 . 2011

i was recently asked to contribute an illustration for a magazine article commemorating the uae's 40th anniversary. people were asked to answer the question 'how do you see the uae in another 40 years?'. my answer was a visual representation of how people might evolve in their appearance & fashion, with a krossbreed flair! 

in 2051, i think the uae will look like a page out of a sci-fi comic book! buildings will continue to rise with weird forms & people will evolve with their dress sense. traditional attire will become modernized, silhouettes will evolve and fashion will adapt to harsh desert climate change, making people go back to basics, wearing what their ancestors used to...

feast: shopopolis at abu dhabi art

feast: shopopolis postcard . 2011

i am really happy to announce that the project i worked on during my artist residency in london this summer is being exhibited over here in the uae! for details on the feast: shopopolis project click here.

the emirates foundation have an exhibition space at this years abu dhabi art fair & had the wonderful idea of bringing the designed products created in collaboration with public works to be displayed right here at the fair.

its quite surreal to see the project once again, this time in a different space. i am proud that the project has come to my hometown & i'm here representing it.

if anyone's planning on heading to the fair this week (last day is 19th Nov.), please make sure to pass by the emirates foundation booth in gallery 3 to check out the feast: shopopolis products. for those of you who didn't have the opportunity to see it in london, now's your chance!

eid mubarak

eid mubarak . 2011

wishing everyone (especially the krossbreed lovers!) a happy eid mubarak. may you & your loved ones be blessed by god's grace & all your prayers are answered.

new direction

new direction . 2011

new direction (detail) . 2011

they say the best works are produced when under pressure! & for the first time, i felt the same way.

i was asked to participate in tashkeel's latest exhibition titled 'crossing the line'. the exhibition is a contemporary & unconventional showcase of drawings by artists based in Australia, UK & the UAE. it was quite interesting to be a part of a show that was varied in styles, but still fall under the category of drawing.

i called my piece 'new direction' because i fell in love with the end result, even though the process of finishing this piece was the shortest i've worked on so far. i started off with a simple organic black & white line drawing of a figure drowned in a plethora of organic & geometric shapes. but the drawing needed something extra to push it to the next level as a finished piece. so the idea of screen printing an extra layer came to mind which worked perfectly. the screen printed pink geometric shapes made the final piece pop & stand out as a strong artwork.

i personally love the combination of hand drawing & screen printing to create a piece. it's definitely a technique i will start using for upcoming artworks, giving my works & practice a 'new direction'...

last minute mess...

khabsa exhibition poster . 2011

typeface process by workshop participants . 2011

typeface process by workshop participants . 2011

final selected typefaces . 2011

khatt foundation type design workshop poster exhibiton . 2011

khatt foundation type design workshop poster exhibiton . 2011

final workshop typeface . 2011

'last minute mess' poster . 2011

after an unfortunate long hiatus from my blog, i'm back, and hopefully for awhile, with updates on all things krossbreed.

one of the recent things i participated in was the khatt foundation type design workshop. as many of you know, most of my works are illustrative & figurative based, generally lacking any form of typographic elements. in addition, my arabic is not as good as it should be! so taking this workshop allowed to challenge myself by developing both my type design skills & arabic!

each participant was assigned 1-2 letters from the arabic alphabet, and to create a typeface with the city of dubai as their inspiration. i decided to be inspired by the silhouettes of traditional objects found here; from coffee pots to arches in traditional houses. during the 5-day workshop, there was a lot of sketching, critiquing & developing each person's typeface. in the end, each designed letter (which was unique and varied from each other) was combined to create a new font/typeface called 'khabsa' (which translates to 'mess'!)

after creating the typeface, each participant was then asked to create a poster to represent their designed letter & the khabsa font. in my poster, i decided to use the phrase 'last minute mess', as it relates to the aesthetic of the typeface, and also my rushed attempt at making a cool poster in a limited time-frame! i think i did pretty well if i say so myself!

i entered the workshop thinking that this was not for me, but to my surprise, came through unscathed! i'm really glad i took the workshop, & know that this will definitely nurture my design work from here on out.

i definitely need to say a few thank you's: to the tashkeel team for asking me to be a part of it all, the workshop leaders, including the khatt foundation's Huda S. AbiFares for offering a great workshop, & also Pascal Zoghbi & Lara Assouad Khoury for truly being inspirational... 

wick curiosity shop

jo & man . 2011

the lord napier . 2011

velda & dot. 2011

eton manor church . 2011

the last project i worked on while in london was for the wick curiosity shop, an online archive documenting the area of hackney wick. what was great about being a part of this project was the opportunity to work at the folly for a flyover, an amazing space built under a flyover, hosting film screenings and workshops. my task was to illustrate some of the important architectural and historical landmarks of the wick area, as well as some of its iconic figures from the community. my illustrations were used on maps created for the public to take and explore the area with.
i'm really glad i said yes to being a part of the project. it was a fun afternoon, and a great way to end my residency in london. thank you polly for including me in the project. hope to work with you again in the near future...

feast: shopopolis fanzine

delfina having a look at my sketches . 2011

detail of feast: shopopolis fanzine . 2011

delfina . 2011

noor . 2011

trevor . 2011

talia . 2011

fahim + ideas for cutlery . 2011

abdul . 2011

ahmed + trevor . 2011

during my london residency project (see previous post for details), i carried a sketch book wherever i'd go to document my process and to mainly keep a visual record of the fun memories of the project and the people i've met along the way. over the course of the project, we thought it would be a good idea to create a 'publication' to disseminate as a giveaway for people interested in our project. everyone agreed that the sketches were pretty wicked and worth sharing rather than keeping it to ourselves.

so i'm proud to say i have my very first publication / fanzine based on some of my illustrations. it looks pretty cool and am definitely inspired to make more fanzines so watch out!

a big thank you goes out to miranda from the delfina foundation. if it wasn't for her, this fanzine wouldn't exist.

if you'd like to get your hands on a copy, keep me posted...