Alyazia Bint Nahyan: I met a traveller from an antique land

Alyazia Bint Nahyan connects - things and people. And the title ‘I met a traveller from an antique land’, which she has chosen for the exhibition subtly reflects these connections. Its significance comes from the fact that it is the first line of the poem Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley, in which the 18th century poet ponders on the greatness of ancient Egypt viewed by the travellers of his day.

Drawing on this analogy, Alyazia’s work pursues connections with ancient civilisations / customs and traditions with more modern mores, so bringing together the past and the present. The exhibition mixes verses of poetry she has specifically selected from a variety of well-known Arab and Western poets with her own works, to underpin her theme of connecting. Whether it is in her series Bon Voyage in which she links historical figures extracted from famous paintings with commercial airline posters, or in Carrom Station in Motion where she plays on the South Asian board game of carrom by taking chips from the game and synthesising them with the controls of a modern video game in mixed media paintings.