IN FOCUS: A Trio of Up-and-Coming Middle Eastern Artists
Alymamah Rashed
A group of edgy and contemporary artists showcasing bold works in Dubai and beyond. Tequila Komos looks at three emerging artists that are shaking up the industry; and how their work reflects their personal landscape.
Known for her large-scale works combining painting and drawing, artist Maitha Abdalla plays with figures; often dreamlike animal-human hybrids that harken back to the regional folktales and mythologies she heard growing up. “All these stories are attached to particular animals, which I find fascinating,” Abdalla said. Take for instance, the rooster. Long associated as a symbol of purity, Abdalla pairs it with the pig; an opposing force that’s considered a sinful animal. For Abdalla, this creature clash represents the crossing of childhood into adulthood; originating from Islamic cultural meanings.
Drawing inspiration from artists Francis Bacon and Portuguese-British Paula Rego’s work; whose realist paintings depict fantasy and reality, Abdalla uses vibrant colors and pastels, and of course, touches on surrealist tones. Sponsored by The Abu Dhabi Music & Arts Foundation, Abdalla’s solo exhibition ran last year at London’s An Effort Art.
Maitha Abdalla
From Kuwait, artist Alymamah Rashed’s large-scale Surrealist paintings explore her body as a “Muslima Cyborg” – a type of social identity whose roots fluctuate between eastern and western cultures. Last year at Tabari Artspace in Dubai, Rashed’s solo exhibition, When My Heart Danced Near Your Mirage looked at the connections between self, nature and spirit. “I've always used my body as a resource. I make my work based on the story of my body in relation to my femininity, my masculinity, even my relationship to the hijab as well," Rashed said. Both dreamlike and ethereal, her floating figures are primarily captured with watercolor.
Animals also play a role here: bird-like figurines dovetail with botanical flowers and petals. In her work “Move Endlessly to Let Your Sky Bloom” (Your Love Grows Through Me), we look at the body in its birth (life) and death (decay). Rashed features flowers in her work, and often those that have been picked up from her commute. Also in her paintings are peaches; “a signifier of comfort,” Rashed said, adding her father often handed them to her while she was working. Symbolically, the peach also represents “tenderness, sensuality, and desire.” Family also plays a crucial role in Rashed’s work; the artist credits her parents visiting her studio and keeping her well-fed with gifts of coffee, sweet fruit and her favorite chocolates from Patchi.
Amir Hazim
Iraqi artist Amir Hazim’s strikingly cinematic black-and-white photography navigates “melancholic memories and futuristic visions.” Based between Baghdad and Dubai, Hazim’s work captures several street scenes, told through bold compositions and an ever-fluctuating shift of what has become known as his signature light and shadow.
Hazim loved to paint in his youth and went to study at Baghdad College of Fine Arts. Learning how to take photographs off his phone, some of Hazim’s first images were of Tahrir Square protests in Baghdad. “It was very personal,” Hazim said of his debut work.
A few years ago, the emerging photographer was part of Dubai’s Gulf Photo Plus exhibit. “I like to experiment,” Hazim said, adding that he explores social history and cultural complexity. Inspired by his surroundings, he often finds artistic conviction in raw conversations, strangers, desires and even what liked to refer to as “some random signs on the street.”
