Zahra A

NOW OPEN: POWDER COATING COMMISSIONS! Starting next week, I can take on about 20 powder coating jobs before the new year. (Although I can be convinced to take on more jobs if they're fun enough.) Email me at [email protected] if you have any questions about process, price, color options, feasibility, or if you're just curious about the process and want to know what you can/can't coat. I am also available for video consultations. (I'm in the process of building a website so this process will be more streamlined in the future.) P.S. I am also selling many of these powder coated charms so also inquire about that!

Super excited to be an Early Career Presenter at this years SNAG conference on June 10-13, 2026 at my alma mater Wayne State University. This year’s theme, Labor & Legacy, explores jewelry and metalwork as practice and inheritance. (This also happens to be the first SNAG conference in Detroit and I'm thrilled to be part of it.) Head over to @snagmetalsmith to learn more and register! See you in Detroit!

Opening up my studio on Sunday May 3rd from 12-5pm! Come by to check out old, new, and VERY in-progress work. This will also be a chance to see all of the work I had down in Cleveland. Hope to see you there! ✨️🎀✨️

Congratulations to Detroit-based visual artist and metalsmith Zahra Almajidi (@archivalbeing ) who has been selected for @playdetroit ’s 2025 Emerging Artists Fellowship. Almajidi, whose 2022 work ‘Mirrored Histories’ was featured in DETROIT SALON’s exhibition ‘A Blueprint of Resonance: Building Detroit’s Artistic Future’ at @palaisdetokyo last October, creates work that considers how objects, adornment, and material culture allow displaced communities to preserve craft traditions across generations and geographies. Her practice speaks to memory, resilience, and the quiet power of making. DETROIT SALON is proud to have shared space with Almajidi’s work and is excited to continue following her path as it unfolds. Her recognition reflects not only the strength of her practice, but the depth of talent rooted in Detroit’s creative community. — Pictured:  1) Artist Zahra Almajidi in her Detroit studio in December 2025; photo by @andi__harris 2) Zahra Almajidi, ‘Mirrored Histories,’ 2022, steel, MDF, custom mirror glass, and stainless steel, at Palais de Tokyo. Image courtesy of @breannwhite Photography

Carry On, Mixed (Stainless steel, mild steel, brass, pearls, gemstones, PLA plastic, lotus pod seeds, plastic flower stamens, stone, ball head pins, fabric, silk cord, thread, Altoid tins, Vaseline tube, motion sickness pills blister pack, eyeshadow pot, silver and glass charm, powder coating.), Ongoing (2020-) The jewelry wall is growing, constantly changing, and never quite the same as it once was. 📸 1: Brian Kovach @briankovach 📸 2: Jacob Koestler @american_spirit

Projecting, MDF, mirrored acrylic, 2025 Once again, a form pulled from the rugs is made into an object. This mirror is almost a direct projection of one of the motifs found on the rug placed it front of it. The bold, vibrant frame with the rose-tinted mirrors immediately draws viewers in. In many ways I think about how displaced people, especially those who were born in the diaspora, often idealize a way of life that no longer exists, in a place that has long forgotten them. Some try so hard to hold on to a culture that they left behind that they almost become frozen in the time. They fear moving forward or changing because, in some ways, that means losing the last connections to their culture and land. Meanwhile, the people who were able to stay on their land have had a chance to grow with their culture and society. 📸: Brian Kovach @briankovach

Gathering 3, Vessel (SLS nylon, brass, pearls), table (plywood), tray (stainless steel, brass, SLS nylon feet,) rug (yarn), 2025 VESSEL on a TRAY on a TABLE on a RUG. Vessel inspired by Marsh Arab silver objects, relatively unknown yet highly decorative craft objects that are yet another reminder of what was lost through displacement. Attached arms that reach out to the user as if offering a hand to carrying their small objects. Tray inspired by the fancy tea serving trays that were always pulled out when we had guests over for a visit. Sometimes the tray is a little too nice to use. Tabletop inspired by decorative Islamic geometric and architectural forms. Floral, ornamental, artificial. A CNC tufted rug designed by taking an image of Marsh Arab rugs and filtering said image several times until it is unrecognizable and starts to resemble an oil slick or highly polluted waters. (Had a joy working with Tim Eads @tuft_the_world to have these rugs tufted.) 📸 1&2: Brian Kovach @brianskovach

Gathering 2, Vessel (SLS nylon, brass, pearl), table (plywood), tray (stainless steel, brass, SLS nylon feet,) rug (yarn), 2025 VESSEL on a TRAY on a TABLE on a RUG. Vessel inspired by Marsh Arab silver objects, relatively unknown yet highly decorative craft objects that are yet another reminder of what was lost through displacement. Colorful, disarming, hollow. Tray inspired by the fancy tea serving trays that were always pulled out when we had guests over for a visit. Guests were always given tea, coffee, water no matter how short their visit. Tabletop inspired by decorative Islamic geometric and architectural forms. Small, intimate. A CNC tufted rug designed by taking an image of Marsh Arab rugs and filtering said image several times until it is unrecognizable and starts to resemble an oil slick or highly polluted waters. (Had a joy working with Tim Eads @tuft_the_world to have these rugs CNC tufted.) 📸 1: Brian Kovach @brianskovach

Gathering 1, Vessel (SLS nylon), table (plywood), tray (stainless steel, brass, SLS nylon feet,) rug (yarn), 2025 VESSELs on a TRAY on a TABLE on a RUG. Vessels inspired by Marsh Arab silver objects, relatively unknown yet highly decorative craft objects that are yet another reminder of what was lost through displacement. Teacups made to look like tulips embraced by saucers shapes like leaves. Tray inspired by the fancy tea serving trays that were always pulled out when we had guests over for a visit. I’m always amused by how excited my mom gets when she buys a new tray. The handles of this tray are made to look arms joined at the top by their hands. In one way the tray embraces you as you hold it and carry it around. Tabletop inspired by decorative Islamic geometric and architectural forms. Stable, neutral, heavy, burdensome. The rug is the same authentic Marsh Arab rug I used in my Talking Dolls show. It is hidden in a bag until I have a chance to use/show it again. I’m hoping for the opportunity to live with it one day. 📸 1: Brian Kovach @brianskovach

Baggage, Brass, inkjet prints, motion sickness packet, lip balm tube, vial of cat hair, pearls, 2025 When thinking of displacement, I think about the objects people carry with them. I remember the stories my mom and aunts would share about what they were able to bring along with them when they were forcibly displaced and made refugees. I would often hear that they brought along whatever they could carry in a bag. Decades of one’s life condensed into one bag. Whatever didn’t fit had to be left behind. Having moved around a lot throughout my life, I also think about what I was able to carry along each time I’ve moved. And, most importantly, I think about what I had lost or left behind in the process. I’ve become more sentimental about mundane objects and it’s made it harder to let go of things or throw them away. Here I use the netted structure again, however I’ve made the net into a bag which allows me to carry things on the interior while also allowing me to clip objects onto the exterior of the bag. This allows me to both showcase the exterior objects, while also allowing for more secrecy with the interior objects. A tube of lip balm, a packet of motion sickness pills, a pearl charm, and a vial of Nacho’s hair are paired with a series of lockets that depict my sisters as children sitting in a wheelbarrow when the Rafha refugee camp flooded. In some ways these things are what I would miss most if I had to leave them behind. I had a lot of fun designing a mount that became part of the work as it holds the bag up. 📸 1: Brian Kovach @brianskovach 📸 2: Jacob Koestler @american_spirit

Holding On, MDF, inkjet print, acrylic, stainless steel, brass, SLS nylon vessel, pearls, 2025 During a studio visit earlier this year I was asked if I intended for all the work I make to look like a rug of some sort. While I’m heavily influenced by the textiles, I didn’t fully realize how present this visual language was in my work. It also happens that I was asked that question around the time I started thinking of making my own rugs, or rug-like forms. Digitally manipulated images are grouped together to form the surface of the rug, and the frame is milled to look like the fringe. The shelf extending from the center of the “rug” provides a seat, or home, for objects such as this vessel. 📸 1&3: Brian Kovach @brianskovach 📸 2: Jacob Koestler @american_spirit

Cast Out, Brass, inkjet prints, 2025 The netting/gridded structure is inspired by the fishing nets used by the people of the Marshes. The 5000-year fishing culture was one casualty of Sadaam’s ethnic cleansing campaign against the Marsh Arabs. Numerous charms and lockets are linked on the net. I’ve always been very fascinated by lockets as they allow you to carry an image or memento of someone/something that you deeply care about. It is a deeply intimate gesture that also allows the wearer to choose to be as transparent or opaque about what their lockets hold. The fragmentation of pictures split between the lockets adds an extra layer of opacity that prevents the wearer from getting a sense of the full picture unless they view the grouping in its entirety. This makes it so people are asked to really spend time with the objects, but most importantly it allows one to carry photos around without having to immediately divulge the contents of the image. These images depict my mom, siblings, and myself on a canoe. In some ways it gives me a little glimpse of what life could have been if we lived on the water and got around on canoes. I once asked my mom why there aren’t many pictures of our family in the Marshes or in Rafha and she said that whatever images we do have were the ones she was able to hide and smuggle out of Rafha. 📸: Brian Kovach @brianskovach