Diaa El-Din Daoud

Since the early 1990s El-Din Daoud has been involved in the Egyptian art movement, forging his career to become recognised widely in national and international exhibitions and acquired by significant private collectors. Being particularly interested in spatial concepts and experience, El-Din Daoud directly referenced Ithra's interior architecture to create a mood and environment at once inviting and magnetic, a micro-climate that may be read anew with every encounter. The palette of warm earthy tones contrasted by cool blues celebrates unique qualities of the surrounding country – the sands of the Saudi desert and coastline – and the moods of Earth's shape-shifting weather.

Delivered with the support of UAP, El-Din Daoud's work speaks intimately to the 'fire' element of the curatorial vision for Ithra's integrated art program, particularly in the process of its creation that references the Raku ceramic tradition and pit-firing.

El-Din Daoud's work is an elegant marriage of traditional techniques with a contemporary interpretation; heroing of the handmade in the age of technology.

UAP joined the Ithra project team in 2010 in a curatorial capacity, to work alongside Mona Khazindar in the early planning stages of the integrated art program. Ithra and Mona’s vision was ambitious, to procure and commission twelve highly site-specific artworks that spoke symbiotically to Ithra’s core philosophy and architecture, designed by the Norwegian studio Snøhetta. UAP also worked with Aramco and the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture to oversee the delivery and install of these incredible projects.