Private Commissions

Princess Button Drawing

2024

Commissioned by Private Commission, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Medium: Archival paper, ink, buttons, thread
Dimensions: 11 x 17 x 1 in.
Photograph: Courtesy of the artists

Commission Overview
This commission began with a remarkable personal connection. In a conversation with a Saudi princess, we spoke about Mecca and the Kiswa, the cloth that covers the Kaaba. She shared insights about its making and even connected us with artisans responsible for its creation. This exchange of stories and traditions became the foundation for a bond of trust and artistic dialogue.

Shortly after her grandfather passed away, the princess reached out again. She had collected all the buttons from his home and wondered if we might do something with them. At that moment, We had just completed a series of intimate button drawings using buttons from both of our grandmothers. When we showed her these works, she responded with deep emotion and asked us to create a new drawing in this spirit, using her family’s buttons.

Artistic Approach
The resulting work, Princess Button Drawing, combines archival paper, ink, thread, and buttons gathered from her grandfather’s belongings. The buttons are stitched onto the drawing surface, layered with expressive ink marks, creating a work that is both delicate and resonant with memory. Each button carries personal history while also symbolizing the universal nature of inheritance and craft.

The process became a cross-cultural dialogue—an exchange of materials, memory, and tradition. What began with a conversation about the sacred cloth of the Kiswa grew into an artwork that wove together her family’s legacy and ours.

Engagement and Impact
For the princess, the work became both memorial and heirloom, a way to honor her grandfather through transformation of his belongings. For us, it was a chance to create an artwork that extended our family practice of storytelling through buttons into another culture’s deeply rooted traditions of ornament and ritual. The act of stitching, layering, and composing with her grandfather’s buttons created a bridge between personal grief and enduring beauty.

Context and Legacy
Princess Button Drawing represents one of our most personal private commissions to date. It affirms the resonance of our practice beyond borders, where materials as simple as buttons become vessels of memory and connection. The work continues a line of button-based drawings rooted in our own family history, while expanding into new geographies and relationships.