Taiba Al Nassar: Reimagining home, history, and the future of Kuwaiti art

Fresh out of Central Saint Martins, Taiba Al Nassar has burst on to the contemporary art scene, keen to explore the rough edges of identity, coloniality, and the deeply entwined stories that shape our understanding of place. Based between London and Kuwait, Al Nassar’s work as a visual artist speaks to a generation eager to redefine the legacies that inform their identities.

Al Nasser’s artistic journey begins with a refusal of stringent impositions of convention. “Growing up in Kuwait, especially as a young girl, there was always a heavy emphasis on rigid expectations that I could never contort myself to fit into,” she tells Dazed MENA. “Creative expression and experimentation became a tool to reject the status quo and gave me a sense of power I didn’t know I could have.”

Her earliest experiments with photography captured the overlooked corners of her hometown; an effort to reimagine the concept of home. Soon, Al Nassar found herself surrounded by a burgeoning community of creatives. “I met other creative people across the people asking similar questions,” Al Nasser notes. “We found each other and lifted each other to heights I could only dream of. Almost a decade later, our creative community has bloomed in all directions, and our voices reverberate across the region and beyond.”

Al Nassar’s interdisciplinary approach draws from localised knowledge systems and counter-hegemonic archives, allowing her to interrogate contested landscapes and the histories they embody. Both a visual artist and a researcher, her art reframes Kuwaiti life with nuance and depth. She recognises the importance of materiality, employing alternative photographic processes and innovative artistic methods to reveal the thick layers of lived experiences often neglected in mainstream discourse. 

Her graduate project, ‘God’s Eye Sees All’ (عين الله لم تنم), was a deep exploration of the emergence of aerial imaging technologies following the Gulf War. Exhibited at the Al-Qurain Martyrs Museum—a former family home now memorialising the sacrifices of the war—Taiba’s work functions to remind people of the personal stories embedded within national histories. This project draws connections between the visual identities of both the natural and manmade environments, creating a dialogue between landscapes, homes, and the artifacts that inhabit them.

“In the eyes of the world, our region exists under a universalising imaginary that we never authored for ourselves,” the artist observes. “In my work, I hope to contribute to a shift in the narrative, where truth is spoken to the nuance and vastness of our lived realities.”

The installation itself is striking in its use of material. Using stones, corrugated metal, and door frames, she constructs a carpet symbolising Arab domestic life. Her tactile approach invited viewers to engage with the personal stories embedded in the homes that hold their stories, often lost in the noise of political discourse. “In all the stages and transitions of my practice of the years, home was always at the centre,” Al Nassar says of her practice, emphasising the symbiotic relationship between memory, place, and self. 

Al Nassar contends that ‘Gods Eye Sees All’ also owes its success to thes support of her local creative family. Working at Studio Khemia’e, a darkroom based in Kuwait City, Al Nassar honed her skills in photochemical printing. “I would not be where I am without the support and expertise of the team at the studio,” she explains graciously. “I returned home for this project to produce outside of the linear, fast-paced Western modes of working I grew accustomed to in London, working instead in the heart of Kuwait City amongst a beautiful community of artists that held me throughout the project.”

With a moving image piece in development, the artist is currently collaborating with LUX, a London-based moving image archive, and Mayday Rooms, a print archive of experimental and marginalised cultures. Her upcoming project focuses on Kuwait’s relationship with water, exploring mythologies and identities tied to the sea. “A lot of time has been spent along the coastline, experimenting and playing with super8 and archival footage,” she says. As with all her work, the project promises to be a reinvigoration of local knowledge.

Keen on connection, Al Nassar envisions a future where regional artists collaborate across borders and continue to build upon these foundations together. “We are a people whose cultural heritage runs so deep; we have legacies of art, poetry, and music running through our blood,” she articulates. “We have so much to build upon as new doors finally open to us. I also hope that at this critical moment in time, we can collectively rise to the urgency of the moment and create with intention and sensibility. As new opportunities emerge, it is so important to approach them without compromising our values.”