Sheikha Salama Foundation Emerging Artist Fellowship - Cohort 3

Photo courtesy of the Salama Bint Hamdan Al Nahyan Foundation

Earlier this month, I completed my one year with Sheikha Salama Foundation Emerging Artist Fellowship. This one year programme brings together a small group of emerging artists based in the UAE and provides artistic and technical knowledge, and professional skills, in partnership with the Rhode Island School of Design. 

I was in the third batch of this fellowship with 15 other emerging artists. It was a very rewarding year for all of us, we learned a lot and exchanged lots of ideas and thoughts and explored new mediums. Personally, it was the space I needed (physically and mentally) to think about my work. I had a couple of old friends with me in this fellowship and made some new friends along the way. 

The summer month saw us all working on our final project, creating new work for the final crit session which took place in the last week of August. The work is currently at Warehouse 421 in Abu Dhabi, open to the public till Sunday, 2nd October 2016 (images of our work with a brief description are included below).

On Wednesday, 28th September there will be a panel talk and an 'open house' where visitors can see the work and meet the artists. It is free to attend, if you are in the neighbourhood, please do visit and come and say hello. 

More about the event:

Here's what we all worked on this summer. I do  hope you get a chance to go see the work for yourself between now and 2nd October 2016 at Warehouse 421 in Abu Dhabi.

Ahmed Hasan Mohamed created five "conceptual portraits", each piece reflecting a memory of his life

Amal Al Khaja's Self Disciplining Act, asks herself what her role is in the community.

Asma Yousef Alahmed addresses the role of the mountains in the UAE, "treated as a resource rather than a place".

Fatima Albudoor's work revolves around fiction and reality, relationships, the self and transient experiences in life.

Fatima Albudoor's work revolves around fiction and reality, relationships, the self and transient experiences in life.

Fatima Yousef Al Yousef's photo series deals with the death of her sister to cancer and it's impact on family and friends. 

Ghaleya AlMansoori's Chain Reaction is about the her dealing with coming from a conservative family and her place in the art world.

Lina Younes' work looks at world as a pyramid scheme, hierarchies, single and multiple entities

Lina Younes' work looks at world as a pyramid scheme, hierarchies, single and multiple entities

Fatima Yousef Al Yousef's photo series deals with the death of her sister to cancer and it's impact on family and friends. 

Fatima Yousef Al Yousef's photo series deals with the death of her sister to cancer and it's impact on family and friends. 

Lina Younes' work looks at world as a pyramid scheme, hierarchies, single and multiple entities

Nasser Alzayani's Watering the Distant, Deserting the Near is about a dried up natural spring in Bahrain and the memories attached to it.

Rania Jishi's The Visit, is a video installation that looks at "Salon Marriages" and the rituals of these visits that are about finding potential brides, predominantly in the Levant region. 

Raudha Al Ghurair's Vessels explores different modes and relationships of containment.  

Raudha Al Ghurair's Vessels explores different modes and relationships of containment.  

Raudha Al Ghurair's Vessels explores different modes and relationships of containment.  

Sawsan Al Bahar's Self Portrait is about the state of existence and notions of self.

Sawsan Al Bahar's Self Portrait is about the state of existence and notions of self.

Sham Enbashi's When I Met Myself, photo series is inspired by Jorge Luis Borges' Labyrinths and questions what if there are two of you and what happens if you cross path with your other self at different stages of life.

Sham Enbashi's When I Met Myself, photo series is inspired by Jorge Luis Borges' Labyrinths and questions what if there are two of you and what happens if you cross path with your other self at different stages of life.

Tala Worrell's Chameleons is about "non-humans we anthropomorphise in order to see our humanity with great clarity". 

Tima Ouzden's Paradise Lost, looks at the concepts of "jannah" (paradise) in both physical and spiritual realms, and the aesthetics of terrorism.

Zahra Jewanjee's work looks at marginalised societies, gender, geometry, chaos and order.

Zahra Jewanjee's work looks at marginalised societies, gender, geometry, chaos and order.

Zahra Jewanjee's work looks at marginalised societies, gender, geometry, chaos and order.

Tima Ouzden's Paradise Lost, looks at the concepts of "jannah" (paradise) in both physical and spiritual realms, and the aesthetics of terrorism.

Tima Ouzden's Paradise Lost, looks at the concepts of "jannah" (paradise) in both physical and spiritual realms, and the aesthetics of terrorism.

Zahra Jewanjee's work looks at marginalised societies, gender, geometry, chaos and order.

Here's what I did, a series of collage, transfers and a video, all linked to memory, changes and the representation of Dubai in the media. Some of it is still unresolved and is a first step of work I want to continue.

All photos © Hind Mezaina, unless stated otherwise.

www.warehouse421.ae/en/exhibitions

www.shf.ae/en/what-we-do/arts-culture-heritage/emerging-artists-fellowship