Afraa Ahmed, a Cairo-based artist of Yemeni origin, works across installation, sculpture, photography and video. Her practice examines how notions of home and safety persist in the aftermath of displacement. She has exhibited across Malaysia, Egypt, Jordan, Qatar and the United States and has received support from the Arab Fund for Arts and Culture (AFAC) and Culture Resource (Al-Mawred Al-Thaqafy).

Residency Project

During my residency, I explored old Sharjah and its architecture, especially while I was staying in Bait Obaid Al Shamsi. I would walk, observe and archive abandoned or repurposed buildings, focusing on the layers of history embedded within these domestic environments. This process motivated me to ponder architecture as a container of memory and the ways in which lived spaces carry traces of absence, migration and time.

I was especially drawn to the construction of traditional buildings and the use of coral stones within their structures. The layers of texture felt as if they belonged to another world. I became interested in learning the reason behind the use of these stones and started tracking other forms of natural homes found in shells and the habitats of sea creatures, which I referenced as ‘portable homes’ within my research.

Alongside this, I continued working on my book titled Ask Me About Home, I’ll Tell You About the Moon. This artist book emerges from my experience living in the diaspora and witnessing conflict in my homeland from afar. My work responds to the inability to answer direct questions about ‘what home is like’, instead offering fragments and symbolic interpretations of home. Using the moon as a central symbol, the book moves between distance and the act of returning and re-seeing origin, forming an emotional map rather than a personal diary.

I also used my studio visits to explore a spatial extension of the project, developing a text-based installation composed of short anonymous responses to the prompt ‘Ask me about home, I’ll tell you about…’. Rather than defining home, the installation gathers reflections from visitors, allowing the title to shift through collective voices.

In parallel, I continued extending the conceptual and visual development of Daughter of the Moon Window, a long-term project examining what it means to carry home and how that idea shifts through displacement. Through the qamariya or moon window, a traditional symbol from my country, Yemen, I allow the form to follow my own journey in an attempt to explore new spaces and create a sense of home elsewhere. The project continues to evolve through photography and spatial interventions.