

©Abeer Sultan & SAMOCA, video credit: Sumayah Fallatah
The Reparation of a Lost Tooth
تعويض سن مفقود
CRT TV, embroidery on textile, blankets
30 secs, colour, no audio
Digital video to CRT display through analogue conversion
تعويض سن مفقود
CRT TV, embroidery on textile, blankets
30 secs, colour, no audio
Digital video to CRT display through analogue conversion
‘In The Night’ Saudi Arabian Museum of Contemporary Art (SAMOCA), 2024.
‘The Reparation of a Lost Tooth’ explores memory and the symbolism of fallen teeth. Sultan reflects on dreams of a house belonging to her grandmother in Riyadh, a space filled with blankets and mattresses that served as a comforting refuge during childhood sleepovers. The house is no longer a physical space to visit; instead, it has become a symbolic space she fills as a custodian with stories, blurring the fictional and real. Here, the memory of losing teeth in that house represents the bittersweet passage from childhood to adulthood, encapsulating moments of fragility and apprehension.
In this installation, a looping video of one of her nieces playing with a shaky tooth emphasises the recurrent nightmares of Sultan’s dreamscapes. In contrast, the mountain of blankets with hues of red to faint pink evokes the warmth and safety of her grandmother's house, acting as a substitute for the womb (Armstrong, 1990, 25), recalling a passage from the Syrian poet Sania Saleh, as she yearns for her daughter to return to her body:
“Sink your head into me, pierce me until our bones almost disappear in one another.”
The accompanying embroidered poem on the milk-coloured tablecloth, laid underneath the TV, delves into themes of time and metaphorical separation from the artist's mother— inspired by the poems of ancient Egypt and the rituals regarding the falling of the milk teeth from various cultures, such as Iran, Iraq, and Egypt. The artist seeks to recreate the emotional landscape of childhood, inviting viewers to recollect their memories as an autobiographical memoir that maps new associations and understandings of the symbolic houses we carry.
In this installation, a looping video of one of her nieces playing with a shaky tooth emphasises the recurrent nightmares of Sultan’s dreamscapes. In contrast, the mountain of blankets with hues of red to faint pink evokes the warmth and safety of her grandmother's house, acting as a substitute for the womb (Armstrong, 1990, 25), recalling a passage from the Syrian poet Sania Saleh, as she yearns for her daughter to return to her body:
“Sink your head into me, pierce me until our bones almost disappear in one another.”
The accompanying embroidered poem on the milk-coloured tablecloth, laid underneath the TV, delves into themes of time and metaphorical separation from the artist's mother— inspired by the poems of ancient Egypt and the rituals regarding the falling of the milk teeth from various cultures, such as Iran, Iraq, and Egypt. The artist seeks to recreate the emotional landscape of childhood, inviting viewers to recollect their memories as an autobiographical memoir that maps new associations and understandings of the symbolic houses we carry.
References
Armstrong, F. (1990). Dickens and the Concept of Home. UMI Research Press.
Saleh, S.(2008). The Complete Poetry Works. Al Mada Publishing.