Samer Tabbaa is a sculptor based in Amman, Jordan. His practice explores materiality in a way that is collaborative, exhaustive and spiritual. Working with elements such as wood, metal, stone and pigments, Tabbaa’s approach is consistent, anchored and harmonious. His labour intensive and patient investment in the process can be seen in how delicate, worked and kneaded and yet how physically strong his pieces are.

Becoming an artist was purely accidental. Tabbaa was born in the desert and brought up amidst natural stone formations and shifting sand dunes. He was surrounded by mountains of layers, each a tapestry of colors and textures, holding histories of ancient stories within the etching of their surfaces. This harsh environment provided young Samer an intense vocabulary of visual reference. 

What was intentional for Tabbaa was his choice to constantly observe. He fondly recalls the desert mud houses in Taif where he was born. 

There lay structural wooden beams from inside the clay protruding on the edge of the houses. 

Young Samer etched a visual memory of square and round edges floating on a monochromatic surface in his mind’s eye. Many years later, impressions of this memory are seen in his artwork and take different formations amongst his sculptural and drawing work.