Yasmin Haddad
HAVE YOU LIVED TODAY? I ask myself this question most nights before going to bed. I appreciate the small encounters and experiences in my day-to-day and seek that same appreciation when creating art. I capture my daydreams in sketches and find wonder in the shapes my pencil produces. My artistic inclination is to pursue more tactile expressions – I want my sketches to come alive through different materials, textures, and sizes. My sculptures combine these formal aspects of art with the imaginative shapes I develop in my sketchbooks.
I manipulate all kinds of materials, like cardboard or wire, to construct the organic forms I imagine. I then transform these shapes, creating different textures through various mediums, such as rope or paper mâché, and play with scales ranging from nearly monumental to table-top sizes. These changes in scale allude to the extraordinary and the more intimate aspects of my life experiences. By focusing on the formal ingredients of art and combining those properties with my imagination, I am able to answer my nightly question, have I lived today, with a defiant yes.
About the Artist
Yasmin Haddad was born in Washington, DC and grew up in a German-Lebanese household in Rockville, Maryland. In May, she graduated from Georgetown University with a double major in math and studio art and a minor in computer science. She’s currently interning at the Middle East Institute in their Arts and Culture department. Her family always encouraged her in every endeavor she pursued, which carried over to her art-making. She uses her imagination to envision original and organic shapes; pairing these shapes with different materials, textures, and sizes allows her creations to come alive as 3D forms. She aspires to stay true to herself and looks forward to using sculpture so others can see her innermost thoughts.
Untitled 1
2023
Rope, Cardboard, Paper Mache, Canvas, Hot Glue, Wood, Screws, Paint, Glue
68 x 84 x 44 in.