Untitled
Sama Al Hamdan
Visual Art
Sama’s residency project aims to explore Failaka Island through memory, storytelling, and traces both tangible and intangible, often explored through themes of ruins, absence, and the emotional weight of space. This abandoned site off the coast of Kuwait, where her family once lived, draws a personal connection with the space and a drive for her to learn and design for Failaka. Sama is investigating the home and school as spaces on the island, weaving together family stories, site visits, and architectural remnants to explore how memory and ruin intertwine and shape the intangible.
Through this project, she aims to raise awareness of Failaka’s past and bring its layered histories back into public consciousness, resisting the risk of forgetting and creating space for dialogue about what has been lost.
Previous projects
Sama Al Hamdan
Sama Al Hamdan is a Kuwaiti interior and spatial designer whose practice explores the intersections of memory, place, and design. She recently graduated with a BA in Interior Design from Middlesex University, London, and an MA in Interior and Spatial Design from the University of the Arts, London. Alongside her academic background, Sama has a strong passion for photography, art, and design, as well as a constant curiosity to learn and create.
Sama has been part of a group exhibition in London (2025), titled The Echoes Of Presence, where she served as both curator and spatial designer of the space, as well as exhibited her own work. The exhibition explored the concept of the palimpsest: a space that is layered, rewritten, and lived in over time.