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Vogue Arabia
08-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Vogue Arabia
Inside Asmaa Al-Shabibi's Dubai Home: A Personal Tour of Regional and Diasporic Art
This family painting is one of the tens of artworks that are elegantly distributed in the gallerist's modern villa, where the majority of the displayed artists are affiliated with Lawrie Shabibi Gallery. The talents include emerging Arab names such as Palestinian architect-artist Dima Srouji, Emirati sculptor Shaikha Al Mazrou, and Malaysian-Palestinian artist Mandy El-Sayegh, as well as established artists, such as Lebanese mixed-media artist Nabil Nahas. 'We're interested in artists who work with material, social and political ideas but not in a very obvious way, rather in a much more subtle way,' says Al-Shabibi. A major artist that Al-Shabibi represents is the Emirati painter and sculptor Mohammed Ahmed Ibrahim, who represented his country at the Venice Biennale in 2022. The colourful painting is Ibrahim's take on an aerial view of roads and trees, atypically expressed through bold geometric symbols. Elsewhere, in the living room of the house hangs a fiery, orange and yellow toned painting by the late Moroccan pioneer Mohammed Melehi, who famously filled his canvases with waves, inspired by Berber jewellery and crafts. 'It's such a heart-opener. It's like the sun is emerging from your wall. It gives me joy every day I look at it,' says Al-Shabibi about the work, which was produced during the Covid-19 pandemic when Melehi sadly passed away. Standing opposite Melehi's work is a more sombre yet nevertheless charged painting by the Iraqi artist Ahmed Alsoudani. This charcoal artwork was the first major piece Al-Shabibi purchased back in 2007. 'I could never not live with this painting. I could never sell it… It's violent but it's also beautiful,' comments Al-Shabibi. A large work, featuring scattered figurative elements, it depicts an explosive moment of impact, based on the political chaos that unfolded in Iraq nearly twenty years ago. Politics and war are indeed common themes quietly sensed through some of the artworks, reminding us again of one of the key roles of an artist: Reflecting the times we live in. 'Some people say, 'all art is political,' and I think that's right,' says Al-Shabibi. 'I think art could give meaning to what's going on around us. Artists, from their own perspective, are telling a story of what we're seeing.'
The National
01-06-2025
- General
- The National
Gaza shelters reimagined as memorials and study spaces at Venice Architecture Biennale
Stairwells often take on a new function during war and natural disasters. These in-between spaces – typically designed to merely connect one floor to another – become something else entirely in moments of crisis. Structurally resilient and tucked away from exposed facades, they serve as improvised shelters where people gather in hope, fear and resilience. Their mundane utility is transformed. In the face of destruction, stairwells become spaces where life clings on. Time Reclaiming Structures, a project by Dima Srouji and Piero Tomassoni that is being highlighted at Venice Architecture Biennale, draws inspiration from these spaces to create a series of structures that are as much a dedication to Gaza 's heritage as they are shelters, study spaces and memorials. Stairs are a central component of their design. 'Anyone that has experienced war will have this intimate relationship with the architecture of a staircase,' Srouji says. 'What's interesting about it is that the form of a staircase is not exactly what saves you. It's more the intimacy, the magic that starts to happen in that space during hours of shelter where you're reading under the staircase with your dad, or doing your homework.' Gaza Shelters, the first iteration of Time Reclaiming Structures, reflects these nuances. At first glance, the structures proposed in the project initially seem simple in their design. Rectangular in shape, comprising no more than four walls and a roof, they are adjoined by a moveable staircase. Yet, the central structures as well as their staircases have been designed with more than one purpose. The structures are each dedicated to a branch of knowledge that are threatened by Israel's attack on Gaza. These include spiritual, medical, environmental, artisanal, architectural, culinary studies. The roofs of these rectangular structures are engraved with heritage sites in the Palestinian enclave. The ceilings underneath feature the topographies of the Strip's natural terrains. The walls display artefacts, archeological finds, photographs and objects reflecting the purpose of the structure. The stairs also function as a library and study space. 'Each one focuses on a different branch of knowledge,' Srouji says. She offers the one dedicated to the medical as an example, saying it is 'one of the most urgent spheres to think about.' The proposed structure would contain films about Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah, the Palestinian surgeon who has repeatedly travelled to his homeland from the UK to help those affected by the cyclical Israeli onslaught. It would also include research by US academic Jasbir Puar, whose work delves into the maiming of Palestinian men and the use of prosthetics. 'You'll also see work on the history of gauze, because it was first invented in Gaza and the word gauze is actually derived from Gaza,' Srouji says. Meanwhile, the heritage sites engraved on the roofs, and which are viewable by climbing the stairs, are informed by Srouji's own work in archeological sites in collaboration with The Palestinian Museum. Highlighted sites include the Great Omari Mosque, Byzantine Church of Jabalia, the Church of Saint Porphyrius, all of which have been damaged or destroyed by Israeli air strikes. 'It also includes some of the tunnel structures as well and which are archaeological features,' Srouji says. 'People don't realise this, but there's the St Helena Tunnel that is 4000 years old. It used to connect downtown central Gaza to historic Gaza to the coast. The tunnels are also archeological heritage sites. They're not just sites of resistance.' Time Reclaiming Structures was inspired both by the biennale's theme of collective knowledge, as well as global geopolitical realities – chief among them the war in Gaza. The structures make a profound argument about memory, attention and empathy in the age of crisis. The spaces that come as part of the project are not meant to only reclaim heritage sites, but also time. 'The title was probably the hardest part of the project for us,' Srouji says. 'Trying to configure, not just what's happening in Gaza in terms of genocide, but also other things the world is dealing with today can be a point of empathy and solidarity for Palestine. That's where Piero's research comes in, in terms of slowing down time, and brings some capacity for empathy.' 'Humans are now in a condition of almost inability to take the necessary time to understand the history that they are living,' Tomassoni adds. 'Because there is no time for the deep thinking that is required to elaborate a philosophical or historical understanding of the past but also of the present. If we lose that then we are not going to be able to resolve any of our problems.' This is how the idea behind Time Reclaiming Structured emerged, aiming to create forms that act as shelters as well as contemplative spaces – places that protect, isolate and allow for reflection amid chaos. 'It can be applied to Gaza right now but also a number of other places,' Tomassoni says. 'The structure is partially monumental when seen from outside. But then when you go inside, it becomes small gallery, museum or chapel.' Srouji and Tomassoni were initially aiming to build three of the structures for the Venice Biennale, however when they found out the Arsenale was the only space that would be showcasing projects unaffiliated with National Pavilions, they knew they wouldn't have the opportunity to build any of them for the event. Instead, they decided to feature all the structures as renders within the Arsenale exhibition space. However, the duo are still keen on developing the project and building them in stone, preferably limestone, given its connotations to Palestine. 'We see this as the first iteration of Time Reclaiming Structures, which could go in many directions' Tomassoni says. 'It could also be the first step to building a Palestinian Pavilion, for example.'
