Asma Bahmim Saudi, b. 1979
Rose Carpet I, 2025
Natural pigment on handmade paper
59 x 132 cm
Copyright The Artist
Rose Carpet examines the presence of still life objects as silent witnesses to time and domestic relationships. Here, the carpet itself becomes the still life, a bearer of memory and...
Rose Carpet examines the presence of still life objects as silent witnesses to time and domestic relationships. Here, the carpet itself becomes the still life, a bearer of memory and emotion within the domestic space. The work reflects on how this everyday object absorbs traces of inner household dynamics, embodying both intimacy and tension. Intricately rendered, the carpet features a profusion of printed and inscribed roses. Rose Carpet I is marked by a vivid striking red, while Rose Carpet II is imbued with a somber magenta hue. The artist describes purple as the prequel to blood. The work employs the burning of paper, intensifying the bleeding of ink and emphasizing the themes of love and destruction. Through motifs of red, fire, and roses, which are universal symbols of passion and torment, the piece evokes the fraught duality of affection and ruin.
