Jasem AlSanea
On Myth, Unease, and What Remains
Written by Nayla
“I love that space… the middle ground of fear… and then safety.”
Jasem Al Sanea is a Kuwaiti artist working primarily through sculpture. His practice centres on the construction of hyper-realistic figures, often drawn from inherited myths and narratives that have faded from everyday life. Rather than approaching these stories as fixed accounts, he returns to them through making, allowing them to take form through the body.
At the centre of his work is an interest in how these narratives are carried, altered, and encountered in the present. The figures he produces are grounded in recognisable forms, yet remain unsettled in their presence, holding a tension between familiarity and unease.
On Myth, and Its Disappearance
AlSanea’s engagement with myth is grounded in familiarity, shaped by stories encountered early on and carried through memory, before being revisited through his practice. These myths, often tied to specific places and ways of life, are not approached as stable narratives, but as reflections of collective experience.
“I think it is natural for my understanding of myths to be rooted in a people’s fear at that moment,” he explains.
Many of the myths he returns to, such as that of بو درياه, are no longer actively told, existing instead as fragments carried across generations.
“The myth kind of died… it used to live, I wanna say my grandparents’ time.”
Within this framework, myth is not fixed. It evolves, fades, and in some cases disappears entirely. What remains is not the story itself, but its trace.
Ripples in the Desert (still), 2026, Short film
On Myth, and Its Disappearance
AlSanea’s engagement with myth is grounded in familiarity, shaped by stories encountered early on and carried through memory, before being revisited through his practice. These myths, often tied to specific places and ways of life, are not approached as stable narratives, but as reflections of collective experience.
“I think it is natural for my understanding of myths to be rooted in a people’s fear at that moment,” he explains.
Many of the myths he returns to, such as that of بو درياه, are no longer actively told, existing instead as fragments carried across generations.
“The myth kind of died… it used to live, I wanna say my grandparents’ time.”
Within this framework, myth is not fixed. It evolves, fades, and in some cases disappears entirely. What remains is not the story itself, but its trace.
Bu Daryah for Abu Dhabi Art with Gallery Bawa
On Rewriting the Myth
AlSanea’s process begins to take shape once a narrative has been identified, not as something to be illustrated, but as something to be worked through.
“I usually start off with the story… and then once I have the story… I begin the question process.”
Through this process, the narrative begins to shift. Elements are reworked, details are adjusted, and the story is gradually repositioned.
Ripples in the Desert (still), 2026, Short film
On Unease, and the Space In Between
AlSanea returns consistently to a space between fear and familiarity.
“I love that space… the middle ground of fear… and then safety.”
The viewer is not entirely confronted with something unfamiliar, nor fully reassured by what they recognise.
“And I think about the audience… it brings up people’s turmoils or biases when they’re in this middle ground.”
“That difference doesn’t have to be violent.”
Ripples in the Desert (still), 2026, Short film
On the Body and Recognition
Working through sculpture, he produces figures that are immediately familiar.
“It’s easier for the audience to empathize with what they recognize.”
“A sculptural object does something that allows the viewer to be with another body in space… it’s not mediated through a canvas or a screen.”
“There’s this intrusive feeling, being in the same space. I’m interested in the confrontation.”
In the studio making Hmarat Al Gaylah, 2025
Images Courtesy of the Artist.
The full interview is exclusively in print, Issue 3.
Words Copyright of Naso Art Journal
