Ba Azeem is a well-known Saudi artist who started her work in the world of sewing and fashion design, but failed and shifted to the world of art, specifically painting. Because of her weakness in measuring, she decided to leave her own imprint in the art world by launching an exhibition.

This 13th exhibition of hers had around 200 works of art, with most of the paintings featuring measuring tape to highlight the theme of centimeters and measurements.

She chose the centimeter — one of the most important tools used in fashion design — to be the theme of her exhibition, and used it in an artistic way to reflect her past. “Every thing in this life is measured. Thirteen years ago, I was working in the field of fashion design; yet, most of my work failed because I misused the centimeter,” she said.

According to her, she used all the old tools that she used then. “Even the tea that was used in the artwork, I used it because it was my drink while I was working on the patterns.”

She used glue to stick a large number of measuring tapes as well as old sewing patterns around and on the art pieces. In some pieces, she even used measuring tape as a frame.

“To create these works of abstract art, I painted an used the collage technique. In other words, I pasted the measuring tape, copied the patterns and then painted.”

Ba Azeem gave a tour inside the exhibition to explain her art to the audience.

“I used the front and back of design patterns. These patterns were painted with tea and each one was posted in a separate piece. The surrounding numbers symbolize the importance of measuring,” said Ba Azeem.

Another art piece in the exhibition was posted with an old newspaper. This newspaper was one of the tools that Ba Azeem used many years ago. In addition, she painted many numbers surrounding the newspaper to symbolize time.

“I did not decide how to cut the materials and how to use them, but I did use most of the materials to remember the past. I just opened my old red box that contains all my old sewing stuff,” she said.

A number of leading artists attended the exhibition. They were surprised by the simple use of the centimeter in every art piece.

“Using a centimeter theme and old patterns is a fantastic idea,” said famous artist, Zain Al-Abedin Mamdouh.

“I like abstract art I really like the exhibition, especially when she used several techniques in one art piece… No one can understand the artwork except the artist himself. This made us confused about what message the artist is sending. However, even though some people cannot understand the artwork, they can feel it.”

The exhibition was established by Khalid Jamjoom, president real estate services at SEDCO on Oct. 10 at the Red Sea Mall in Jeddah.

“I am attending this exhibition because of my love for art. This is not the first time I attend an exhibition by Ba Azeem,” said Jamjoom. “The exhibition idea is considered strange, but it is strange ideas like this that makes people think.”

“I noticed that the art education level is very weak at schools and institutions. That is why I encouraged Ba Azeem to hold her exhibitions at public locations,” he added. He believes that developing thinking skills and art sense in people requires artists to hold more exhibitions at malls and public locations.

Ba Azeem will develop the centimeter idea even further and launch her own project using the same theme.