You will make me out of mud

Interdisciplinary media; 2026

The new works developed during the Intermix Residency in Riyadh, as part of the Beyond Uncertainty series, draw on the Balkan idiom “You will make me out of mud” and critically examine its meaning. Rooted in an expression that evokes absence, memory, guilt, and emotional attachment, the project translates these themes into a contemporary visual and performative language. By reinterpreting the phrase beyond its original association with longing and loss, I approach it as a metaphor for the human capacity to re(build) identity and a sense of belonging through processes of migration, adaptation, and resilience.

This interdisciplinary project brings together large-scale paintings, performance visual poetry, and a mud sculpture (composed of clay, soil, and plant-based materials), a sound installation,

Open Studio Exhibition, Intermix Residency, Jax District Riyadh, 28 July 2026
Under the auspices of Visual Art Commissions, Ministry Of Culture, Saudi Arabia

This performance is conceived as the final ritual of “You Will Make Me Out of Mud”, a project developed during the Intermix Residency.

Writing becomes an act of release. The poem is embodied, inscribed with the same mud from which the sculpture emerged. The repeated gesture of writing is both mourning and renewal, a way of returning to the earth and returning to oneself.

sound installation – “beyond uncertainty, landscapes of belonging” – composed of testimonials and spoken poetry collected during
the Intermix Residency, 2026