we have a home (work of art)
Artwork Info
Key Ideas
- This abstract painting is made up of layered silhouettes of plants and hand-painting. The artist placed plants on his canvas and then sprayed paint over them.
- Saif Azzuz is a Libyan-Yurok artist. He incorporates images and symbols from Yurok and Arab culture into his work.
- Azzuz creates art that references the historical loss of land in Indigenous communities. He sees his art as a way of reclaiming the land on the Pacific coast that once belonged to the Yurok people.
- Azzuz’s work also explores the ongoing wildfires in California and the impact of climate change. His color palette is inspired by California’s 2021 color-coded drought and fire maps.
Learn More
Saif Azzuz is a contemporary American artist from California. He creates paintings, sculptures, and mixed-media installations. He lives and works in the San Francisco Bay Area. Azzuz is of Libyan and Yurok descent. The Yurok are an Indigenous people from the Pacific coast. Azzuz draws inspiration from his heritage, incorporating Yurok and Arab iconography and imagery into his work. The titles of his works often include the Yurok language.
My work will continue to gravitate around oral history, land, reclaiming space and family.
Saif Azzuz
He includes the silhouettes of both native and invasive plants in his work. He places the plants on the surface of his canvas and sprays pigments (spray paint, ink, natural dyes) over them. He uses this method along with hand-painting to create layered, abstract compositions.
Azzuz uses his artwork to explore current environmental issues. Two issues he focuses on are California’s ongoing wildfires and the impact of climate change. His color palettes are inspired by the color-coded drought and fire maps for California in 2021. His work also references Indigenous land stewardship and the historical loss of Indigenous land. Azzuz’s mother is a member of the Cultural Fire Management Council. This is an organization that practices the Indigenous tradition of controlled burns. The controlled burns help create a healthier ecosystem. Azzuz sees his art as a way of reclaiming the land on the Pacific coast that once belonged to the Yurok people.
Family is always important for me, and the land and how it’s affected always comes up. And then traditional ecological knowledge, which is this idea that before colonization, because every area was so individualized and specialized, every individual community had the best knowledge of those areas and how to take care of them. So, rather than a blanket way of taking care of a whole state, individual communities knew best. These are things I am thinking about and are starting points for me, are ways in which ancestral knowledge and taking care of the land has been affected by the shift of colonization.
Saif Azzuz
Additional Resources
Resources for Teachers
- Read a biography about Saif Azzuz and view more examples of his work.
- Watch an interview with the artist.
- Listen to a podcast episode featuring Azzuz.
- Read a short resource on how climate change affects wildfires in California.
Resources for Students
- Read a transcript from an interview with the artist.
- Read a short biography about the artist.
- View another painting by Azzuz.
Images
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we have a home
An abstract painting made up of multicolored, layered shapes. Some of the abstract shapes have a leaflike shape. The shapes are in different shades of blue, green, white, red-orange, and purple.