The Secret Garden
A film by Nour Ouayda
November 8 - December 9, 2024
Jameel Arts Centre, Gallery 9, Dubai
Programmed in collaboration with Jameel Arts Centre
The Secret Garden
Nour Ouayda | 2023 | 27 minutes
16mm & S8 finished on digital | Color | Stereo | Arabic with English subtitles
The inhabitants of a city awake one morning to find that never-before-seen trees, plants, and flowers suddenly erupted throughout the streets and in the squares. Strange and mysterious events start taking place as Camelia and Nahla investigate the origins of these new and peculiar creatures.
Screening on loop during the opening hours of Jameel Arts Centre in Dubai.
Awards:
Special Mention NEW:VISION Competition, CPH:DOX, Denmark, 2023
Critic’s Award for Best Short Film, Gabès Cinema Fen, Tunis, 2023
Best Experimental Film Award, FestCurtas Vila do Condo, Portugal, 2023
International Competition Award, Festival des cinémas différents et expérimentaux de Paris, France, 2023
Honorable Mention International Competition, Media City Film Festival, Canada, 2023
Award for Best Film, International Competition, Beijing International Short Film Festival, China, 2023
Best Movie Gli Occhi Sulla Città Award, Laceno d’Oro – Festival Internazionale del Cinema, Italy, 2023
Boundless Vision Award, Images Festival, Canada, 2024
Credits:
A film by Nour Ouayda | Produced by The Camelia Committee | Written by Nour Ouayda & Carine Doumit | Editing: Carine Doumit | Sound Design: Kinda Hassan | Narrators: Liwaa Yaziji & Leila Ghandour | Sound Libraries: Tatiana el Dahdah & Ghassan Salhab | Voice Over Recordings : Khyam Allami & Ziad Moukarzel | The horn sound is taken from “Sonic Totem”, an interactive sound sculpture by Floy Krouchi | Color Grading: Chrystel Elias | Technical Production and Consultation: Philip Widmann | Arabic Text Editing & Title Design: Hussein Nasreddine | English Translation: Ghalas Charara | With the support of the Arab Fund for Arts and Culture – AFA
A River Flows Downstream
June 14 - October 13, 2023 | Curated by Roï Saade
Presented in partnership with the Arts & Culture Center at the Middle East Institute.
A River Flows Downstream explores the concept of a journey along the river into the disparate world of ecosystems in different space and time.
While drifting downstream through the various works on display, the viewer is invited by each of the eight participating artists into their lived world to witness the inhibed shifting ecological and cultural landscapes. Through the lens of each artist, the photography exhibition narrates the diversity and complexity of these ever-changing landscapes, interconnected by their reliance on the abundance of water.
Artists: Hoda Afshar, Zied Ben Romdhane, Solmaz Daryani, Reem Falaknaz, Paul Gorra, Emin Özman, Roï Saade & Tamara Abdul Hadi.
Hoda Afshar, from the Speak the Wind series (2015-2020). Courtesy of the artist.
Solmaz Daryani, "The Eyes of Earth" series (2016). "The beached ferry in the background has become a popular photo subject." Courtesy of the artist.
Zied Ben Romdhane, "Phosphate 1" from the "Phosphate" series (2014). Courtesy of the artist.
Hoda Afshar, "Speak the Wind" series (2015-2020). Courtesy of the artist.
More Than Your Eyes Can See: Contemporary Photography from the Arab World
Amr Attamimi, La La Land I (2013). Courtesy of the artist, represented by Emergeast.
June 3 - October 21, 2022 | Curated by Laila Abdul-Hadi Jadallah
Presented in partnership with the Arts & Culture Center at the Middle East Institute.
The exhibition features the work of 15 photographers employing photojournalism and fine art photography, whose diverse work provides an intimate and dynamic lens through which to see their worlds—shedding light on the lived experience and taking viewers to new and unexpected places.
More Thank Your Eyes Can See celebrates some of the most exciting voices of a generation of artists and photographers who are pushing boundaries, and challenging what we know and how we see.
Artists: Mohammad Alfaraj, Eman Ali, Amr Attamimi, Zied Ben Romdhane, Imane Djamil, Farah Foudeh, Rula Halawani, Yasmine Hatimi, Samar Hazboun, Amir Hazim, M'hammed Kilito, Seif Kousmate, Fethi Sahraoui, Najla Said, and Ismail Zaidy.
Amr Attamimi, "La La Land II" (2013). Courtesy of the artist, represented by Emergeast.
Najla Said, "Never Too Many," Sister, Oh Sister (اختي يا اختي) series (2020). Courtesy of the artist and Mashrabia Gallery of Contemporary Art, Cairo, Egypt.
Najla Said, "Never Too Many II," Sister, Oh Sister (اختي يا اختي) series (2020). Courtesy of the artist and Mashrabia Gallery of Contemporary Art, Cairo, Egypt.
Tribe: Contemporary Photography from the Arab World
November 10 - December 16, 2018 | Curated by Janet Bellotto and Dr. Woodman Taylor | Katzen Arts Center, American University Museum
Tribe: Contemporary Photography from the Arab World is an exhibition highlighting a selection of artists published within eight editions of Tribe—a magazine founded in Dubai dedicated to covering developments in photography and moving image from the Arab World. The exhibition contextualizes an expansive field of image-based work through various themes, while celebrating artists both internationally acclaimed as well as those whose practices have recently been recognized. At times artists poetically deploy hues, shadows and partial images to nuance aspects of Arab culture. By expanding our appreciation and understanding of the variety of creative photographic practices by artists throughout the Arab World and its diaspora, through its platform and first exhibition, Tribe magazine celebrates these accomplished artists on a global stage within the larger sphere of contemporary photography.
Tribe magazine was founded in Dubai by Publisher Mubarik Jafery and Photographer Sueraya Shaheen. Artist, Professor, and Associate Editor Janet Bellotto joined the editorial team along with Art Historian Dr. Woodman Taylor as Assistant Editor, and most recently Editorial Assistant Emma Warburton. As the co-founders continued to build the character of the publication, various artists, photographers, historians, critics, curators, and institutions made contributions to support the vision.
RELATED EVENTS
Tribe Gallery Talk | November 10, 5PM
Late Fall Opening Reception | November 10, 6-9 PM
FEATURED ARTISTS:
We would like to thank all the artists who instilled confidence in the curatorial vision by taking part in this exhibition:
Adel Al-Quraishi; Afra Bin Dhaher; Ajlan Gharem; Alaa Edris; Alia Ali; Al Fadhil; Al-Moutasim Al-Maskery; Amani Al Shaali; Amina Benbouchta; Ammar Al Attar; Arwa Abouon; Arwa Alneami; Bashar Alhroub; Camille Zakharia; Ebtisam Abdulaziz; Farah Salem; Filwa Nazer; Ghada Khunji; Hassan Hajjaj; Hassan Meer; Hazem Mahdy; Heba Y. Amin; Ibi Ibrahim; Jalal Bin Thaneya; Jamelie Hassan; Jassim Al Awadhi; Joanna Barakat; Khaled Akil; Khaled Hafez; Lamya Gargash; Lara Atallah; Leila Alaoui; Maha Al Asaker; Mai Almoataz; Maitha Demithan; Manal AlDowayan; Mohammed Al Kouh; Mohammed Al Shammarey; Mustapha Azeroual; Nermine Hammam; Nora Alissa; Osama Esid; Rula Halawani; Sadik Kwaish Alfraji; Sama Alshaibi; Sara Naim; Shaikha Al Ketbi; Steve Sabella; Sultan Bin Fahad; Tammam Azzam; Tarek Al-Ghoussein; Toufic Beyhum; Wafaa Bilal; Yazan Khalili and Ziad Antar.
PRESS:
In the galleries: Contemporary images cast a striking new light on the Arab world
The Washington Post
The exhibition in the US showcasing the Arab world through an alternate lens
The National
Utilites, solo exhibtion by Dia Mrad
January 11 - February 22, 2023 | Zawyeh Gallery, Dubai
A work in progress since March 2022, Utilities is artist Dia Mrad’s way of shedding the light on the ongoing economic crises in Lebanon by uncovering the transformation witnessed in the urban environment.
Utilities seeks to excavate and document the multilayers of Beirut’s economic collapse and employs an ethnographic lens to explore the material manifestations of the crisis across the city’s urban fabric. Already immersed in Beirut’s social and urban landscape as an inhabitant and artist, Mrad’s work can be classified as an “ethnography at home” that pushes us to think through objects.
The project unearths the material infrastructural apparatus that is emerging as a response to socioeconomic conditions; solar panels, water tanks, private generators, and prison-like façades of banks are all elementary fragments of this apparatus.
Utilities is on view now through February 23 at Zawyeh Gallery Unit 27, Alserkal Avenue, Dubai, UAE.
Dia Mrad, Solar Tablet 10 (2022). Image courtesy of the artist.
Rula Halawani, For You Mother
Solo exhibition presented by Ayyam Gallery | January 11 - February 23, 2023
“When I finished the For My Father series, I showed it to my Mother, told her that it was in honor of my Baba, and asked if she liked it. She replied: ‘Yes, of course, darling, I like it very much!’ Then she asked, ‘Rula, are you going to make a series for me when I leave this universe?’ I said: ‘Do not mention death, Mama. I will honor you now while you are still with us.’” — Rula Halawani.
The For You Mother series is split into two parts: the first chapter, which was worked on in 2018-2020, and the second, which was completed in 2022 after Rula received the 2021 Sheikh Saoud Al Thani Project Award in partnership with the Qatar Foundation. The first chapter reflects and depicts Rula’s Mother, Asma’s, words, while the second is an homage to her teachings, beliefs, and lifestyle.
Rula is left questioning mother, motherland, and mother nature. Reconnecting with her childhood activities, Rula examines how the Palestinian landscape and natural environment have changed. Chapter I comprises eleven photomontages, a marriage between archival images of Palestinian families before the 1948 mass diaspora and the Palestinian landscape captured through Rula’s lens. Chapter II is the result of treated and damaged photographic negatives.
For You Mother is on view now through February 23 at Ayyam Gallery B11, Alserkal Avenue, Street 8, Al Quoz 1, Dubai, UAE.
Rula Halawani, Untitled 7 (2020), For You Mother series. Image courtesy of the artist and Ayyam Gallery.