From a young age, Ahmad was inspired by animations and cartoons to begin his artistic career. He began by filling sketchbooks with figuration and caricature, based on the programs he had seen. He received multiple awards in visual arts, both regionally and nationally. He was ranked second in Arabic Calligraphy by UNESCO in 2010. At Bennington College, Ahmad began to rigorously study a breadth of art-making practices as well as a broad exploration of islamic art history and contemporary art movement. He has studied drawing with Mary Lum and Ann Pibal, architecture with Donald Sherefkin, digital arts with Michael Stradley, painting and paper sculpture with J Blackwell, and Islamic Art History with Dr. Razan Francis.
Ahmad’s artwork explores the politicization, contemporary issues in the Middle East, and personal investigation. In all areas, he is interested in the role played by spatial justice, memory, and identity. He is deeply inspired by contemporary Islamic Art and the processes of modernization through untraditional color palettes, moderate use of vegetal and decorative elements, patterning, and the use of calligraphy in patterning. In recent work, he is exploring postering as a process of claiming agency over public space, especially as a means of questioning what public space is. He is also interested in the repetition of the action and using excessiveness as a way to demand representation.
Ahmad Yassir 