The practice
Al-Qatt Al-Asiri is a women-led tradition of geometric interior wall decoration originating in the Asir region of Saudi Arabia.
MA Creative Research Project / King's College London
Made Together,Displayed Apart
A Creative Research Inquiry into Al-Qatt Al-Asiri in Asir, Saudi Arabia
This project explores how women practitioners experience the transformation of a collectively transmitted domestic practice as it moves into institutional, commercial, and public contexts.
Artist and researcherNada M. SalemAsir, Saudi ArabiaFieldwork / July 2026
Academic research presentationScroll to enter
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The central inquiry
What happens to a practice that was never meant to be made alone?
For generations, women in Asir painted together, learned from one another, and transformed domestic walls into shared cultural memory. This research asks what changes when that practice becomes formally taught, publicly displayed, commercially circulated, and institutionally safeguarded.
01Home02Women03Memory04Transmission05Institution06Display
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Research context
From domestic wall
to public frame.
Collective transmission
The practice was historically learned through observation, participation, family relationships, and collective making.
Transformation
Following increased recognition and safeguarding, Al-Qatt now appears in institutional training, tourism, products, public surfaces, and commercial environments.
Research focus
The project centres the voices and paintings of women practitioners across two generations within the same families.
Domestic surface Institutional frame
This digital experience presents the project structure and creative research outputs. It does not replace the formal dissertation, participant information sheet, or consent documentation.
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Phase 1 / Individual painting
Ten participants.
Five family pairs.
Each pair brings together two generations from the same family. Their paintings are held as related works rather than isolated images.
Pair relationship Anonymous by default Consent-gated display
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Current state
Painting images, participant interpretations, and comparisons will be added after fieldwork, analysis, and consent review.
Research data pending04
Phase 2 / Collective painting
One canvas.
Ten participants.
A shared space.
In the second phase, all ten participants come together to paint one large collective canvas, reactivating the historical practice of women painting together in the same space.
The collective work is not a simple total of ten individual paintings. It is a record of shared time, conversation, gesture, negotiation, memory, and making.
10 participants 1 shared canvas No audio autoplay
Collective canvasFinal work to be added after fieldwork
Fieldwork statusFinal collective canvas pending / July 2026
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Creative research methodology
Making as a mode
of knowing.
This project combines individual painting, recorded conversation, intergenerational comparison, and collective making. The paintings are not treated only as illustrations; they are part of the research process.
Individual painting and conversation
- Ten individual participants
- Five intergenerational family pairs
- Open painting prompt and individual canvas
- Recorded conversation after painting
- Approximate session length: two to three hours
- Painting and spoken reflection analysed together
Collective canvas and group conversation
- All ten participants
- One large collective canvas
- Shared painting space
- Recorded group conversation with consent
- Approximate duration: three to four hours
- Comparison between individual and collective practice
LocationAsir, Saudi Arabia
Planned fieldworkJuly 2026 / two weeks
Session planningAgreed with participants
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Interview themes
Questions guiding
the inquiry.
These questions are indicative and not exhaustive. Responses will not appear here until fieldwork, analysis, and consent review are complete.
- What did you choose to paint, and why?
- What motifs and colours did you choose?
- What do those motifs and colours mean to you?
- What does painting Al-Qatt mean to you personally?
These questions are indicative and not exhaustive.
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Ethics, consent, and privacy
Participant care
is structural.
The website defaults to anonymous codes, pending states, and disabled media. Publication is treated as a consent decision, not a design setting.
PublicAnonymousRestrictedPending consent
- Participation is voluntary.
- Participants may decline any question.
- Participants may request that recording pause or stop.
- Withdrawal conditions follow the approved consent documentation.
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Research archive
Formal documents,
held in view.
The attached source documents are available here for academic review. They retain their original bilingual content where applicable.
01Participant Information SheetInformation Sheet - English and Arabic
Project purpose, participation process, risks, benefits, data handling, confidentiality, and withdrawal information.
Open document02Participant Consent FormConsent Form - English and ArabicParticipant consent options, anonymity choices, data handling acknowledgement, and optional public-display permissions.
Open document03Indicative Interview QuestionsInterview Questions and Topic GuideTopic guide for individual and collective painting conversations.
Open document04Research ProposalAcademic Research ProposalAcademic proposal outlining the research question, context, methodology, creative research design, and project rationale.
Open documentDocuments shown here should be replaced with the final approved versions before formal publication.
Personal identity / academic use
Researcher / Academic context
Nada M. Salem
Artist and Researcher
Nada M. Salem is a multidisciplinary Saudi artist from Abha whose practice engages materiality, culture, identity, sculpture, and installation. Her creative research brings artistic practice into dialogue with cultural management, heritage transformation, and women's knowledge.
“My role in this project is not only to document Al-Qatt Al-Asiri, but to create the conditions through which practitioners can paint, reflect, compare, and make together.”
Reflective close
What happens to a practice that was never meant to be made alone?
HomeWomenFamilyMemoryGestureVoiceTransmissionDisplayTogether
This project does not treat transformation as a simple story of loss or preservation. It asks how women practitioners themselves understand what is carried forward, what changes, and what collective making can still make visible.