Memory Melting, 2025

Memory Melting (2025) gathers discarded plastic toys from children around Saudi Arabia and the world, fusing them into glowing orbs suspended as a constellation of childhood recollections. Saad Al Howede turns waste into nostalgia, showing how play persists even through transformation. Each three meter sphere contains fragments of recognizable toys softened by heat, tiny fossils of memory. In line with the 2025 theme of Noor Riyadh, “In the Blink of an Eye,” the piece contrasts traditional, open-ended play with today’s digital experience, where stories are preprogrammed and virtual. Illuminated from within, the work emits a soft warmth, serving as a metaphor for memory’s transformation, an act of remembrance through reinvention.