Prognosis / Saudi Arabia
An Artist's Odyssey
Published on 30. September 2025
Book
Hardback
444 pages
978-1-86154-387-5 (ISBN)
Description
This richly illustrated and superbly designed book explores its author's life and work against the backdrop of 40 years of transformation and conflict across the Arabian Gulf and Islamic world. A doctor-turned-artist, Ahmed Mater has continually confronted his traditional context. Here he explores Arab and Islamic society in an era of globalization and social upheaval to uncover the unofficial histories that have shaped the present. Mapping his life and work on a historical timeline, the book offers an unprecedented insight into changes forged by and in the Kingdom, and its significance in world religion, culture, and geopolitics. Celebrating 20 years of Mater's art-making, organizing, and activism, this book is not only a mid-career survey of an essential artist, it is an urgent prognosis of a society in dramatic transition.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Illustrations
800 colour illustrations including artwork and personal archive
Dimensions
Height: 298 mm
Width: 245 mm
ISBN-13
978-1-86154-387-5 (9781861543875)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Born in 1979, when Islamic revolution reconfigured the region, and trained as a community doctor on the Saudi/Yemeni border, Ahmd Mater has risen to become one of the most significant Arab artists of the 21st century. Stephen Stapleton (1976) is a British/Norwegian artist, curator and founding director of Edge of Arabia, CULTURUNNERS, and The Crossway Foundation, all platforms for cultural exchange across international borders. He has produced over 50 international exhibitions and published a series of acclaimed artists' books with Booth-Clibborn Editions.