Palestinian artists channel grief and memory at Art Dubai 2025

The National

17-04-2025

Art can be a powerful tool. It can inform and inspire, tell a story through words unspoken, and shed light on important issues. At this year's Art Dubai, Palestinian artists are doing just that. Fourteen Palestinian artists from across generations and mediums will showcase stories of preservation, tradition and survival to international audiences at Dubai's Madinat Jumeirah from April 18 to 20. 'These presentations focus largely around tradition and preservation – of cultures, customs and perspectives,' says Pablo del Var, who has served as Art Dubai's artistic director since 2015. 'What stands out so beautifully in the work of Palestinian artists this year is a deep connection to roots and heritage. Each piece speaks to those ties, and you can see it across the works featured.' Speaking to The National, Del Var emphasises that these artists chose not to focus on themes of war, conflict or destruction, but rather on the conservation of culture – or 'the preservation of something that is in a struggle for existence'. Del Var singles out several artists bringing powerful works to the fair. These include Tarik Kiswanson, whose sculptures retrace stories of displacement through the lens of his own family's history and Saudi-Palestinian artist Dana Awartani's Standing by the Ruins installation of patterned flooring that, on closer look, replicates the geometric designs of Gaza's historic Qasr Al Basha. The selection also features masters of the 1980s New Visions movement, including Nabil Anani and Sliman Mansour, who united at the height of the first intifada to inspire freedom and autonomy through their works. Now opening its 18th edition, the annual art fair has become a focal point for themes of identity, discovery and expression, resonating most deeply with artist in regions often overlooked by art fairs in the West. Art Dubai welcomes galleries from across the Middle East, Africa and regions including Latin America for a distinctive and diverse showcase each year. 'It holds a unique place in the region, bringing audiences together who can connect with the political and emotional layers of my work without the need for over-explanation,' says artist Mirna Bamieh, who will be presenting a personal offering about grief, memory and land this year. 'Since relocating to Portugal after the [start of the Gaza] war, returning to Art Dubai feels like a kind of grounding, a way to stay connected, present and in conversation with the region.' For her second participation in the fair, Bamieh is showing pieces as part of larger installations titled Grieving in Colours and Sour Jars. 'In Grieving in Colours, I was navigating personal displacement while witnessing the horrors in Gaza unfold, and I needed a material that could hold that pain without demanding language,' the artists says. 'Ceramics allowed me to express grief through form, through collapse, weight, and transformation.' Bamieh's work centres around the Jaffa orange, a powerful symbol in Palestinian memory and resistance. Inspired by her heritage – her paternal family originates from Jaffa – the orange is symbol across Palestinian literature and visual culture. It has come to signify the 'rupture of 1948 and the ongoing loss of land', she explains. 'These oranges decay, ferment, and dissolve into each other. They say grief moves in stages, but mine arrived all at once – dense, suffocating and sour,' she adds. Sfeir-Semler Gallery is representing several Palestinian artists and artists of Palestinian descent at this year's fair. Founded by Andrée Sfeir-Semler in 1985, the gallery has championed art from the Arab world, providing a cultural link between western and Middle Eastern contemporary art practices, for decades. In addition to works by Abdul Rahman Katanani and Dana Awartani, the gallery brings a diverse collection of works by Taysir Batniji, Bayan Kiwan and Samia Halaby, a celebrated global trailblazer of contemporary abstract art. 'Every single artist we chose to collaborate with is first and foremost an artist who has something urgent and critical to say,' says Sfeir-Semler. 'It is heartbreaking that the same concerns find their ways in their works across generations. And how can it be otherwise? Even with those who are removed from the land, they are consistently trying to bridge this gap of space and time.' Represented by Dubai's Tabari Artspace, Palestinian American Saj Issa brings her story to life through a solo presentation comprising ceramic amphoras, tiles and paintings that invites viewers to explore themes of longing and memory. Her showcase, Never Make a Wish in a Dry Well, is created from a lived experience. After a visit to her family home in Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank, Saj brought back shards of 10th-century pottery she found near a former ceramics factory. 'She didn't just preserve them – she pulled them into her process, fusing them into glazes or sealing them in glass,' says Maliha Tabari, the founder of Tabari Artspace. 'It's a powerful gesture: reclaiming history not as a fixed past, but something she's actively reshaping.' For del Val, these presentations were not chosen for an 'agenda', but purely for their quality. They naturally align with the fair's broader themes and discussions around immigration, including displacement, or global issues such as climate change. 'I believe the selection is fantastic,' he says. 'It's beautiful to see the rising consciousness of Palestine as a culture with an enduring tradition and an undeniable right to exist. It's about preserving and surviving.'