About
Amani Al-thuwaini is a Kuwaiti artist/designer, born in Ukraine in 1989. She holds a Bachelor degree in Architecture from Kuwait University, which has influenced her methodical approach of collecting information and meticulous approach to designing and creating artwork. In 2017, Althuwaini received her MFA from Goldsmiths, University of London. Subsequently, she was shortlisted for the Warsteiner BLOOOM Award in 2017 and in 2018 she was selected to attend the International Designer’s workshop at the V&A Museum, London. She has exhibited extensively throughout London and Kuwait and has also shown her work in Prague, Dubai, Brazil, Bolivia and in 2024 - Paris Art Fair.
Through her interdisciplinary approach, Amani questions what constitutes a tradition and how it is displayed through material possessions. Her materials are memories, social behaviours and accumulated objects. She endeavours to trace relationships between people, objects and place through fieldwork, interviews and observation. She is drawn to how different cultures and histories collide and transform through their material expression.
In her recent series of works, she explored marriage and dowry rituals in Islamic culture, namely their transformation in The Middle East. Trade and capitalism blurred the lines between East and West which affected the processes of these rituals.Dowry gifting objects and their contents are embodiments of these collisions of cultures. To study and transform this further, She decided to penetrate the market through the creation of Dazzalab - dowry heirlooms. The process in which this takes place, is that Dazzalab is the threshold between the gifter and the gifted.
She believes that the cultural duality she inherited through her Kuwaiti, Ukrainian roots greatly influenced her awareness of identity and culture. This duality lets her see through the eyes of the ‘other’, consciously becoming the spectator; observing, analyzing and absorbing the varying facets that form cultural identities. Themes of luxury and socio-politics relevant to Kuwait and the Gulf region are emphasized in her work. Employing mixed media and two-dimensional forms, Althuwaini aims to expose this cultural collision by incorporating insinuations of modernism, superficial display, commodity fetishism and gender. Her resulting works are a candid response to the commodification and changes of traditions and customs; hybrids that represent a far more ‘globalized’ ritual.
Amani Althuwaini | (Kuwait,1989)
EDUCATION
2017 Goldsmiths University of London, London
Masters of Fine Arts
2016 The Academy of Art, Architecture and Design, Prague, Czech Republic
Erasmus exchange program
2016 Kassandras hybrid space for Urban & Social experiments, Athens, Greece
Erasmus exchange program
2013 Kuwait University, college of Architecture
Bachelor of Architecture
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COURSES
2022 Central Saint Martins, London
Digital Textile Design
2018 University of the Arts, London
Visual merchandizing and display
2018 V&A museum, London, UK
International designers workshop with the British Council
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AWARDS
2017 BLOOOM Contemporary Art Award by WARSTEINER
Shortlisted
2016 Art Jameel Prize
Nominated
2013 Kuwait Engineering Society
Best graduation project Award - Labor Compound
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COMMISSIONS
2021 ZAL carpets store - shop window
Shuwaikh, Kuwait
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RESIDENCIES
2019 ASCC AIR program
Abdulla Al-Salem Cultural Centre, Kuwait
2016 Unveiling marriage - Swift Tank program
Almakan, Kuwait
2015 SADI residency program
Sadu house, Kuwait
2013 Out of Kuwait led by RCA head of painting David Rayson
Contemporary Art Platform, Kuwait
2012 Landscapes Expanded led by the National Council of Arts & letters and The British Council
Museum of Modern Art, Kuwait
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TEACHING AND MENTORING
2024 Future creatives program led by Shahad Bishara
Promenade Culture Centre, Kuwait
2021 Future creatives program led by Shahad Bishara
Promenade Culture Centre, Kuwait
2018 IN.DIG.GO program -creative learning with kids with Nuqat x ZAIN Kuwait
Dar Al Athar AlIsamiya, Yarmouk cultural centre, Kuwait
2017 Teacher assistant with Dr. Lamis Behbehani
College of Architecture, Kuwait University, Kuwait
2017 Interview Panel for prospect MFA Fine Art students
Goldsmiths University of London, UK
2017 Teacher assistant with Dr. Lamis Behbehani
College of Architecture, Kuwait University, Kuwait
2017 Winter Art Camp - Art for children
The print room, Kuwait
2015 Teacher assistant with Dr. Lamis Behbehani
College of Architecture, Kuwait University, Kuwait
2015 Summer Camp - Art for children
J’s preschool, Kuwait
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SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2019 Sur-re/vival
Sadu House, Kuwait
2018 Layers of Identity
Contemporary art platform,Kuwait
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SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2024 Paris Art Fair (Hunna Art)
Paris, France
2023 Menart Fair
Millon Auction House, Paris, France
2023 Menart Fair
Boghossian Foundation - Villa D'Empain, Brussels Belgium
2023 Abolish 153
Boushahri gallery, Kuwait
2022 Eyes Wide Shut
Firetti contemporary, Dubai
2022 Forbidden love in Arab Art
Dar Al Funoun, Kuwait
2019 In my dream I was in Kuwait
Scoletta dell’Arte dei Teraoro e Battioro, Venice, Italy
2018 The Agency of visible women
Beecroft Gallery London
2018 AlGurain festival
AlAdwani gallery, Kuwait
2017 Women at war
FA gallery, Kuwait
2017 Goldsmiths degree show
Goldsmiths, University of London, UK
2017 Transition exhibition
Menier Gallery, London
2017 Fair Booth trial
Carousel exhibition space, London
2016 New Matter
Den Gallery, Kuwait
2016 FiliArt Exhibition
Oxford House, London
2016 The Blue Hour - XX Bolivia Biennale
Cntro de la Cultura Plurinacional Santa Cruz, Bolivia
2016 Exit
National Technical Library, Prague
2016 Slippery surface
Hartslane Gallery, London
2016 What’s your location?
Contemporary Art Platform,Kuwait
2016 SADI - reinterpreting tradition
Sadu house, Kuwait
2016 JAMM gallery
JAMM, Dubai
2016 Women’s work
Beecroft Art Gallery, London
2015- 2019 Abolish 153
Dar Al Athar Al Islamiya, FA gallery, The Hub, Contemporary Art Platform Kuwait
2015 What’s your location?
Porto Alegre, Centro Cultural Cee Eirico Verissimo, Brazil
2014 Peace one day
Contemporary art platform,Kuwait
2013 Out of Kuwait
Edge of Arabia, London
2012 Out of Kuwait
Museum of modern art, Kuwait
2011 Dewaniya winter school exhibition
Al Qibliya school, kuwait city
2009 REUSE 3.0 - with Alia Farid Abdal
The Avenues mall parking, Kuwait
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WORK EXPERIENCE
2019-Present Owner - DAZZALAB
Kuwait City, Sharq, Kuwait
2017-2019 Interior Designer and creative director
The Bedshop, Kuwait
2014-2015 Architect
NHEC - Najeeb AlHumaidhi Engineering Consultancy, Kuwait
2013-2014 Interior Designer - communications and interior department
IKEA, Kuwait
2011-2012 Graphic designer and event coordinator
Al Anjeri co. , Kuwait
2010 Interior Designer - contracts department
IKEA, Kuwait
2009-2010 Intern
SDQ+P Dawood AlQattan - architecture firm, Kuwait
2009 Visual merchandizer
NIKE, Kuwait
2008 Sales Asssistant
IKEA, Kuwait