Young artists in the UAE have witnessed a continual change in landscape and culture in what is an apparent fusion of east and west. Photography is the tool of choice for many young artists whose main circuit of communication is though the virtual conduits of the Internet. Instantly they can cross borders and communicate with others across the globe.

Whereas previously malls were the place where art was shown today there are well over 50 galleries in Dubai that exhibit regional artwork. And they are showing a keen interest displaying the work of young Emirati student artists. Students and graduates of Art and Design have engaged audiences through galleries such as The Third Line, XVA, Meem, Art Attack, Jam Jar and Elementa. For example, XVA showcased masks created by students of Colleen Quigley, Zayed University. Meem Gallery hosted Rtoosh, 2006, which was the combined work of students and faculty. Shortly thereafter Lateefa Maktoum wowed the Dubai community with Minus Reality (fig 1). This was one of the first exhibitions to offer an example of the range of artists from the Gulf, Middle East and elsewhere. Although the artist / curator was interested in showcasing work that explored dreams and thoughts of the illusionary, it was the array and amount of artworks that captured media attention (fig 2)

Fig 1 MinusReality entrance Maryam Jamal Al Ghurair Wedding March, 2006, lightbulbs, steel, 196 x 24cm

Fig 2 Wall facing HessahMaktoum2007 Minus Reality installation partial viewfrom Left: Sanna Al Falasi, Conversations with a split mind, 2007 ; Alya Al-Sanad, Letter from the Land, 2007; Sarah Ayoub Agha, Silent C, 2007; Hessah Maktoum, Noiseless Fear Manifested, 2007; Simone Ann Noronha, My Observation of Life and Death, 2006; Aisha Al-Saeed, Hair Series #3, 2006

Following the Minus Reality exhibition, the Dubai International Financial Center (DIFC) turned their atrium into a professional exhibition space for E11even, the graduate exhibition for the female students of Latifa College Campus, Zayed University, thereby demonstrating their growing interest and support of the arts. E11even included works created by Alia bin Drai, Amna Al Madani, Latifa Saeed, Mariam Al Mazroui, Mazoona Abdulrahmana, Shamma Al Amri, Wafa Hasher Al Maktoum, Alia Al Suwaidi, Mona Fares, Omaima Hidmi, and Lateefa Al Maktoum (fig 3).

Fig3 Mazyoona Abdulla Catalogue for exhibition E11even, 2007

E11even was an exhibition inside an exhibition for each artist/designer whose individual theme differed from each other. An examination of 21st century feminism in regards to image, and women’s roles, are seen in “the ‘F’ game” by Wafa Hasher Al Maktoum (fig 4). In a break away from conventional graphic design solutions, Amna Al Madani embraces difference in “Add Color to Life,” in which she depicts the stories of people and mental health who she met when volunteering in Dubai (fig 5). Lateefa Maktoum’s installation “Inter-dimensional Dream” was a square construction of five photographic panels portraying a dream about seagulls in a landscape that combines Dubai and elements of another country (fig 6). This was also a break from exhibition conventions of hanging photographs on a wall. Following these two exhibitions Lateefa’s interest in bringing together artists was piqued and within six months of graduating she established Tashkeel – an artist member studio and exhibition space.

Fig 4 Wafa Hasher Maktoum The “F” Game, 2007 Flash progra

Fig 5 Amna Al Madani Add Color to Life, 2007 Ink on wood paneli

Fig 6 Lateefa Maktoum “Inter-dimensional Dream” Digital print on transparency, plexiglass, 2 meters x 2 m

New York curator Kóan Jeff Baysa took a keen interest in the emerging works of female Emirati artists when he visited the United Arab Emirates. He offered an invitation to showcase a selection of works from graduate students in the lobby of the Roger Smith Hotel in New York City. The resulting exhibition No Such Place (2), 2008, displayed a selection of photographic works that expanded on relationships to landscape and journeys – either physical journeys or self-reflective ones; those places that might be encountered in a state of mind. The main point of the exhibition was to introduce the work of artists in the Emirates to the New York City audience. And the photographic works by Ebtisam Abdul-Aziz (Sharjah, UAE), Lateefa Maktoum (Dubai), Mazyoona Abdulla (Dubai), and Shamma Al Amri (Dubai) clearly gave the audience the information they needed.

Ebtisam's series “Autobiography” documents a body of calculations in various places in the Emirates. She has taken the values of her ATM transactions and has transformed them into a moving system, as they are printed on a bodysuit. These digits materialize and morph into the landscape, making the numbers come to life. A self-taught artist she wears her autobiography. Through theatrical documentation, the body questions its placement in the environment. Her ultimate interest is of the workings of the mind and its capacity for change (fig 7).

Fig 7 Ebtisam Abdul Aziz autobiography 2003-07 performance Digital photographs Exhibition: No Such Place (2), Roger Smith Hotel

Lateefa's photographs portray a scene that encompasses the real combined with ideas that grow out of dreaming or which are due to the necessity of change. She paints a new photograph with her digital manipulations, combining a real place, choosing from various points around the ever-changing landscape of Dubai, and elements that have migrated into this space (fig 8). In Particular, Lateefa is interested in documenting what the mind imagines and thus the image which we believe to be true. In “My World”, a veiled woman walks toward an unknown destination. She is surrounded by a natural world that is in fact made of paper birds and a turbulent sky – a place where the floating wildlife is doomed. The model, who is a reoccurring subject in her photographs, does not represent the experience of the veil; rather the focus is on the emotions brewing within her (fig 9).


At the exhibition held in the hotel in New York, the enthusiasm that viewers expressed was most reflective of people’s awareness, or lack, of Dubai. Most were not aware of any art produced in the Gulf and particularly in Dubai. This exhibition provided the opportunity to demonstrate to an outside audience that art in an emerging artist community in the Emirates is comparable to that found elsewhere.

In 2007 the Creek Art Fair, organized by XVA gallery saw a change in the students engagement with their work and exhibition preparation. Students from the American University of Sharjah, the American University of Dubai, and Zayed University, were provided space for students to show at this international alternative art fair. Located within an empty house located in the Bastakiya district in Dubai, several women took on the challenge of working within the space differently in an effort to engage with their work and with the public.

Aisha Saeed Harib realized the importance of the interaction of her mages with the public in her work The Art of Lights, 2008. She chose the narrow staircase to hang photographic patterns attached to a bulb assimilating a lantern. The photos were a digital manipulation of a flame from a match to create patterns (fig 10).

Fig 10 Aisha Harib The Art of Lights, 2008 Digital print on acetate Variable dimensions

Arwa Fuad Bukhash approached the subject of the fully veiled, covered woman, an image that predominately distinguishes many Muslim women particularly in the Gulf and one that is a subject of controversy in the West. In Talented, Outspoken, Strong and Free, 2008, her intention was to break the stereotype some foreigners have of women in the region. The artist argues that veiled women are productive, talented and ambitious, rather than oppressed or without agency (fig 11). Arwa’s demonstrates that strong women made the choices in their sheilas, abayas an nicabs. Photographic cutouts of the women, void of any facial features, stood side by side, on the main floor exhibition hall and on the rooftop. Excerpts from the Qu’ran were included (fig 12).

Fig 11 Arwa Fuad Bukhash Talented, Outspoken, Strong and Free, 2008 Paper and Cardboard boxes 20cm high each

Fig 12 Arwa Fuad Bukhash Talented, Outspoken, Strong and Free, 2008 Paper and Cardboard boxes 20cm high each

In examining a different issue related to women, Hind Bin Demaithan explored one that is common but the exposure of which is also considered taboo. In her work “…and so what is perfection?”, 2008, a two meter high photograph on canvas, the image is comprised of two layers. One is a flap with two halves of a woman’s torso which were digitally manipulated: one half was large and similar to the Venus of Willendorf, the other slim to the point that it was disturbingly deformed. When a viewer lifted the flaps to peer inside he or she was the perfect image of a Barbie doll torso (fig 13). Hind took her own personal struggle to find perfection as the basis for this work and presented an issue which is of critical concern to many of her audience. The question of how to obtain the “ideal look” has become dominant within the UAE. Plastic surgery, liposuction and diet pills are increasingly employed in order to obtain the desired result of physical transformation sought by many women in the region. As the artist points out this is a contemporary dilemma, as well as a rising industry, in urban centers around the world where women are confronted by media images of what is considered to be the ‘perfect body.’

Fig 13 Hind Bin Demaithan …and so what is perfection?, 2008 Digital print on canavas 1.5 x 2m

The reflections of the human condition are also seen in Mona Al Gurg’s photo series “Overexposed” (fig 14). She constructs a visual narrative of a day at the beach in her representation of people as carrots, who in the end get burnt because of the time spent in the sun. “Equilibrium” shows a man reading from the Qu’ran and finding equilibrium (fig 15).


The following two examples are indicative of the change that occurs when students as emerging artists begin to take control of their artistic futures. Beyond Conventions, 2008, at Elementa Gallery was curated by third year Zayed University art student Maitha Huraiz, who brought together the works of students and young professionals (fig 16). The other was Sheikha Manal bint Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum’s Art Exchange Program and exhibition that sponsored 14 female Emiratis, selected from various colleges and universities in the UAE, to attend and experience contemporary art at Art Basel 2008 in Switzerland. This led to an exhibition of work displayed at Dubai Ladies Club, Art and Talents Center Exhibition Hall by these young artists. One of the 14 artists, Hind bin Demaithan took part and displayed a video installation in a shipping container which continues her personal narratives such as her own heart issues. “Handle With Care” shows a medically illustrated heart that beats surrounded by the hard metal casing of the container (fig 17). Its fragile interior stands in contrast to the hard casing that surrounds and represents the hard kernel surrounding softer emotion. This symbolizes the harsh contrasts between the desert landscape and the glass and concrete structures that are encasing the once harmonious landscape of Dubai .


Art is flourishing in the Emirates. As these young and aspiring Emirati artists see the potential of art to make change and to represent their ideas and struggles within a city and country in process of defining and redefining itself locally and internationally. These Emirati artists are ready to show the world that they are the new visionaries.