Shaikha Al Mazrou is a leading UAE based sculptor whose practice delves into materiality, abstraction, and spatial tension. She creates abstract geometric forms that challenge perceptions by making rigid materials appear soft or weightless. Her process prioritizes detached observation of objects, which she then translates into tangible forms in an exploration of spatial dynamics. Central to her practice is an investigation of how human perception and expectations shape our understanding of the material’s behavior. 

Her work is characterized by continuous experimentation aimed at revealing concepts of tension, illusion, and spatial relationships as well as a preoccupation with formal and material elements. In works such as Paper Sculpture, 2022, the artist notes how “materials appear to betray their functions and their fixed properties, shapes and angles connect and then release into mysteries. We are left to wonder: what is the precise point in which one thing becomes something else? Is it even possible to know? In these artworks, are we looking at paper or steel, folds or welded fragments? I push my materials to see what they will yield, but I must ultimately also listen to their message and possibly even accept their secrecy.”