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Aspiring interior designers took a journey into their own minds as they created a series of pieces, now on show at the Last Oil Well gallery at Al AAli Mall.
The exhibition, titled Thoughts Manifestation was curated by University of Bahrain professors Dr Fatema Qaed and Dr Reem Sultan, and featured the works of 40 final year students.
“Just like no two people are alike, the inside of each person’s mind varies wildly depending on their life experiences and perception of the world,” a spokesperson from the gallery added.
“We are happy to announce the takeover Thoughts Manifestation by the Interior Design programme of University of Bahrain, in which Dr Fatema and Dr Reem are showcasing selected work of Interior Design students.
“The show will include a curatorial talk tomorrow (June 9) to reflect on the design process of the project.”
Designers drew from their childhood and created symbolic pieces of how their personal histories came to shape their thinking today.
Lulwa Al Bin Ali drew from her well of nostalgia to create an installation featuring artefacts from her childhood.
“We were asked to answer the question, “If you had a key that opens a door into your mind, what would it look like?” the aspiring designer told GulfWeekly.
“If I were to take you on a journey through my mind, you’d see endless fields of flowers and screens all over playing my favourite shows and movies. It would have a very cosy and homey feeling. I’m a very nostalgic person, which is why I chose to showcase the items that initiated my love for nature, shows and movies.
“The VHS TV, tapes and camera are the same ones I used as a child and the greenery is picked from the same garden I used to play and gather fruits and vegetables from.”
Rana Mahmood created a thought-provoking piece titled The Cage of Happiness where she focused on how difficulties made her a better person.
“The cage symbolises life with all of its hardships, but the components within – butterflies, flowers, etc – bring a more optimistic perspective to it,” she added.
Sondos Albanna bottled her memories from different stages of life, quoting as inspiration poet Marina Reka, “Memories are like antiques, the older they are, the more valuable they become.”
Jumana Yasser decided to do a cutaway of a sculpted head to show a library within, explaining that she sees her mind as a small library split into equal halves, highlighting the importance of organisation for her calmness.
“Each side has its own representation of likes and dislikes, also showing how it can be organised into a library that carries lots of information but still has the ability to combine them into one interior space,” she added.
Kawthar Alqassas used the medium of cross-stitching and embroidery to show how she surmounted her depression and how certain threads in life remain consistent.
“A person is born with pure white threads that express our natural instincts, but these threads become coloured over time, which in turn help in forming our personalities,” she added.
“The piece expresses the influence of these coloured threads, and how they helped me get past the black threads, which represent stages of depression I went through.”
The exhibition runs until tomorrow and will end with a talk reflecting on the pieces. For more details, follow @lastoilwell on Instagram.
