Habiba's Chamber – 2011–2014 

Habiba’s Chamber is an immersive installation modeled as a square room whose green facade evokes Saudi Arabia. Built from hand-dyed, screen-printed canvas, it merges the sensibilities of an Arabian tent with mosque architecture—geometric design, vegetal ornamentation, and arches inspired by the Alhambra. A narrow corridor leads to an intimate inner chamber where devotional objects and a life-size portrait of Habiba create a space of both sensuality and spirituality.
Facade of Habiba’s Chamber installation showing the green, screenprinted exterior walls at Prince Faisal Bin Fahad Art Hall in 2012
Habiba’s Chamber – Facade view, 8 × 8 × 10 ft, Prince Faisal Bin Fahad Art Hall, 2012.
Side view of Habiba’s Chamber showing the Andalusian‑inspired arches and sheer fabric printed with an Arabesque pattern
Habiba’s Chamber – Side view, 8 x 8 x 10 ft, Prince Faisal Bin Fahad Art Hall, 2012.
Portrait of Habiba in a pink outfit, shown with her cat and cellphone as part of the Habiba’s Chamber installation
Habiba in Pink – 2013, silkscreen print on canvas, 5 × 7 ft.
Habiba’s Chamber was exhibited both as a standalone room and within a larger architectural structure. Its printed walls recall the textile traditions of Arabian tents while echoing the structural clarity of mosque interiors. Inside, a small corridor leads to Habiba’s private chamber, where a life-size portrait of a young woman in a miniskirt and hijab sits with her cat and cellphone. On the floor, a prayer rug faces Mecca, accompanied by a clay rosary, a forehead stone, and a sheer black prayer shawl set before an organza screen printed with Arabesque patterns. The interplay of light and ornamentation—central to Islamic aesthetics—animates the space.
Screenprinted pink‑on‑pink directional prayer rug with arches and a central pole topped by stylized pink flame
Habiba’s Prayer Rug – 2013, screenprint on dyed fabric, 24 × 36 in.
Upward view of an interior arch leading into the innermost chamber of Habiba’s Chamber
Habiba’s Chamber – Interior arch view, 2012.
Entrance to Habiba’s Chamber with visitors’ shoes placed outside, marking the threshold into the installation
Habiba’s Chamber – Entrance view, 2012.
Detail of the installation’s side wall with the Arabesque pattern casting a shadow across the corridor surface
Habiba’s Chamber – Side detail, 2012.
Backside of the installation showing the large half‑circle window covered with a screenprinted Arabesque pattern on sheer fabric
Habiba’s Chamber – Back window view, 2012.
The arches draw from the Alhambra in fourteenth‑century Córdoba, translating historic Islamic architecture into a contemporary textile environment. Material choices reinforce the installation's physical experience: the dye on the floor canvas creates a soft, walkable surface, while the ink on the walls produces a firmer, clean-hanging plane.
​Habiba, a pseudonym for a fun‑loving Saudi woman pursuing graduate studies in the United States, moves fluidly between veiling and unveiling, treating the veil as fashion, choice, and play. Her spirituality is equally personal: as a Shi‘a Muslim, she prays with a forehead stone made of sacred earth—here reimagined in clay and impressed with the words “I love you” in Arabic. The clay rosary threaded in pink and the nearly transparent black prayer shawl extend this duality. In Habiba’s world, sensuality and devotion coexist, each illuminating the other.

Exhibition History

Exhibited as a standalone artwork at: • Prince Faisal bin Fahad Center for Visual Arts, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, 2012 • Wellesley College, Massachusetts, USA, 2013 • Islamic Art Festival, Sharjah Art Museum, UAE, 2014
​Exhibited within Fatimah in America project, 2011