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# Project Description Fictionalising the ARABESQUE Dalia Halwani Summary Final work Dalia Halwani is a British-Syrian artist whose practice examines the orientalist discourse surrounding the exploitation of Arab and Islamic visual motifs in contemporary film. With a major interest in set design and space curation, she manifests these ideas through large scale installations, paintings, digital imagery and publications that borrow design elements from the intersection between fantasy and fiction. Dalia Halwani is a British-Syrian artist whose practice examines the orientalist discourse surrou... College Central Saint Martins Course BA (Hons) Fine Art Graduation year 2025 Titled ‘ FICTIONALISING the ARABESQUE ’, my project investigates how Arab and Islamic design motifs are appropriated in contemporary science fiction cinema to construct alien and surreal civilisations. Examining how excessive ornamentation is used to represent cultural otherness and inferiority - echoing the visual strategy of 19th century Orientalist paintings - I decided I wanted to physicalise these opulent and hyperbolic Sci-Fi worlds that are scattered with Middle Eastern design motifs. Through immersive installations that mimic fictional film sets, my work seeks to exaggerate the aesthetic dialogue that extracts these visual elements of their cultural lineage. Critiquing how fantasy and futurism continues to disguise these reductive representations of Middle Eastern culture, my work asks viewers to reconsider the politics behind cinematic world-building and the origins of its visual storytelling. Final work View Gallery View Gallery View Gallery View Gallery View Gallery View Gallery View Gallery View Gallery View Gallery Research and process Share this project Titled ‘FICTIONALISING the ARABESQUE’, my project investigates how Arab and Islamic design motifs are appropriated in contemporary science fiction cinema to construct alien and surreal civilisations.Examining how excessive ornamentation is used to repr... A link to this page has been added to your clipboard Browse related work Craft & Process Digital Experiences Story & Myth ArtDirection Art Set Film Installation CulturalIdentity Painting Fantasy Fiction ScienceFiction Heritage
# Links ## Official page - https://ualshowcase.arts.ac.uk/project/636958/cover ## External - https://www.linkedin.com/in/dalia-halwani-0366b21bb/ - https://www.instagram.com/dxlihxl - mailto:daliaaahalwaniii@gmail.com - https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Fualshowcase.arts.ac.uk%2Fproject%2F636958%2Fcover&text=Fictionalising+the+ARABESQUE - https://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fualshowcase.arts.ac.uk%2Fproject%2F636958%2Fcover&media=https%3A%2F%2Fportfolio-tools.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2025%2F06%2F03125614%2FUntitled-5-1.jpg&description=Fictionalising+the+ARABESQUE