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In Sara Redha’s latest art installation, the Bahraini creative takes a step back to decode how humans find ‘belonging’ and how these structures can be either scaffolding or suffocation.
Exploring the intricacies of culture and how it overlaps with the concept of cults, her installation at Al Riwaq Art Space’s Residual Spaces art exhibition may appear grandiose at first but the real beauty is in all the details that the prop creator and graphic designer has crafted.
“Cult ure explores the overlap between cults and culture, tracing their shared linguistic roots and questioning how systems of belonging are formed,” the 33-year-old told GulfWeekly.
“Using the structure of the family as a lens, the installation examines how patterns are inherited and maintained across generations.”
At the centre of the art piece, set on a stage, is an idealised mural of a family tree, disrupted by a chaotic foreground, revealing the tensions, hierarchies and contradictions that sustain it, while imagining the possibility beyond inherited narratives.
Littered across the stage are artefacts that trace a family’s official journey, ranging from birth and death certificates to forms and photos.
And in front of the stage is what appears to be a director’s chair, and hints as to who might sit there are found on match and cigarette boxes resting on the table beside, marked ‘Jester’.
“I have built a solid prop design background in my career, but what I didn’t have was the art background and this is my first ever full installation,” Sara explained.
“My mentor Annie Atkins, who is the deep graphic designer for greats like Steven Spielberg and Wes Anderson, helped shift my graphic design towards using it as a storytelling element and bringing a character to life with things are sometimes in the background.
“I wanted to use my graphic design in the piece and with mentorship from William Wells (Al Riwaq educational programmes and exhibitions director), I explored conceptual art. He pushed me to find the concept first and then find what medium would work best, rather than just thinking with my skills and fitting the concept to it.”
Sara’s original proposal when applying for the art residency was to explore confessions she never made, and through the programme, critiques and mentorship, she developed her idea into a full-scale installation.
Her research involved books like The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins, Born A Crime by Trevor Noah and Rubayeeat Khayaam by Omar Khayaam as well as cults around brands and corporations structures, film and book fandoms, scientology and more.
For more details, follow @saraxprop on Instagram.
