Interdisciplinary Social Research

Depicting the human form in modern arts has changed based on the aesthetic object of a fixed point to an active field of social and cultural expression. This study aimed to analyze this change in the modern Arab art using an experimental approach of studying the works of an Omani artist Alia Al-Farsi. The study in particular focused on the influence of incorporating traditional Omani Farsi in coins and textiles into modern artistic practices and spiritual concepts of the Sufi tradition to create a multifaceted identity, femininity and historical continuity. The studio experimentation method was adopted as a qualitative and practice-based methodology. The analysis of artworks through the theoretical frameworks of Visual Discourse Theory and the principles of semiotic analysis helped to interpret images as sophisticated visual texts, whereas the practical experience in working with mixed media (gesso and acrylics) helped to perceive materiality. The results showed that Al-Farsi converted the human body into a human communicative machine, in which individual spiritual experiences are interpreted into more social discourses. This practice transformed the canvas into a cultural negotiating platform and identity creation in the global environment. In future, comparison of regional artists and how digital media can be used to further develop discourse of human body in contemporary art needs to be further investigated by future studies.