Group exhibition at XVA Gallery (September 16 - October 16, 2022) I SHALL NEVER TIRE OF FINDING AN ESCAPE

During the 1930s, in the aftermath of the great depression, people went through tremendous social and psychological changes. Some were demoralized by hard times, while others lost their will to survive. Young people looked for a way out of the suffering, searching for an escape from their unpredictable, fickle reality. Families stayed home entertaining themselves by playing board games in the hopes of temporarily forgetting their problems. Many forms of media, such as Magazines, became a form of escapism with no sad news. It was a time when seeing the word through rose-tinted glasses and avoiding the harshness of reality was a must. While many looked for an "escape", others settled for a form of "escapism", a coping strategy to tolerate the uncertainty. While escape is an ancient word, escapism is a modern one created in parallel with the evolution of the world. The more arduous life became, the more escaping it became a challenge.

Exhibition poster / Courtesy of XVA Gallery

I SHALL NEVER TIRE OF FINDING AN ESCAPE is a photography group exhibition showing passionate photographers searching for an escape from our relentless zeitgeist. Today, not unlike in the 1930s, when physical escape was not a valid option, escapism is the alternative - often designed to protect oneself, remove uncertainty, and take us into a safer mental place. Through their lenses and the use of their imagination, they transcend boundaries between story, form and technique. This exhibition explores the idea of escapism from the perspective of four artists: Sarah Brahim, Maitha Hamdan, Menat el Abd and Ammar Al Banna; narrated under three chapters: From and to the self, Obeyed to the essence, and finally, Round we spin.

Sarah Brahim

Sarah Brahim is a performance and visual artist based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. She began studying, choreographing, performing, and teaching all styles of dance as a young person, going on to train at the San Francisco Conservatory of Dance. Sarah went on to study the performative and biological body, and from 2017 holds a BS from Oregon Health and Science University and BFA (Hons) from the London Contemporary Dance School. She has participated in performances, residencies, and exhibitions throughout the United States, Europe, and the Arab world. Her work is rooted in experiences of the body, ranging through full physical embodiment, transcendence, and the unseen body. She uses unique physical language with articulated gestures to express and examine themes, such as pain in the body, grief, and loss. Through performance, video, photography, textile, installation, and sound, her work explores and embraces the vast conditions of the human experience.

Maitha Hamdan

Maitha Hamdan is a self-taught conceptual artist born and raised in Ajman. She explores her art through mediums such as performance and art installations. Maitha has found that dealing with fabric and textiles is the foundation of her artwork and performances. They narrate and tell the stories faced within social boundaries and religion. Maitha is also a filmmaker and performer who writes creatively in the Arabic. A graduate of the Shaikha Salama Bint Hamdan Foundation program Salama Emerging Artists Fellowship Program 2019, Cohort 7, and a part of the Azyami Program by Irthi Contemporary Crafts Council 2019, Maitha is the Founder and Creative Director of MaithaMedia, a media production company, and the Founder and Fashion Designer of Decencia modest clothing line.

Menat El Abd

Menat El Abd is a 27-year-old Egyptian artist based in Dubai. Having a deep love for television and classic movies, she has grown an appreciation of the art form and established her way of adaption from great films, specifically Egyptian films. In 2017, she founded a UAE-based brand, Black and White Diary, focusing solely on creating black and white visuals. With her photography, Menat translates human emotions through black and white storytelling, reminds the spectator to pause, and invites them to remember the many different forms of reality. Black and White Diary transformed B&W artworks into a unisex urban-wear clothing line and a travelling gallery across the UAE. Menat continues to take on creative projects with major establishments and magazines such as Vogue Arabia, Dubai TV, and the Ghurair Foundation. Finally, through hosting workshops with Sony, Menat shares her expertise in photography and documenting UAE culture through her lens with others.

Menat El Abd / Courtesy of XVA Gallery

Menat El Abd / Courtesy of XVA Gallery

Ammar Al Banna

Ammar Al Banna (b. Dubai, 1998) is an avid film photographer and a full-time archaeologist. Film photography started for him as an experimental hobby during his years at the Sorbonne Abu Dhabi. Now, a few years later and with numerous rolls used, he continues to use film photography to create and document art, environment, and the day-to-day routine - thus creating albums of stories and memories, all stored on sheets of film negatives. It initially stemmed from nostalgic connections to old family albums, and today the same process is used in a modern setting - all his photography is on film, in its many forms and sizes. What strives for him is the process of producing a photograph, from preparing the camera, capturing a subject, developing the film and finding all the shots. This type of photography demands a deep appreciation of the physical aspects.

Ammar Al Banna / Courtesy of XVA Gallery

Ammar Al Banna / Courtesy of XVA Gallery

Fatima Al Kurdi

Fatima Al Kurdi is a Senior Curator and an Art Advisor at Iris Art Advisory. She has an academic background in Art History and Archeology from Sorbonne Abu Dhabi. She focuses on both, Art Market & Art Education. She has worked at the Louvre Abu Dhabi and the Art collections of the Presidential Palace of Abu Dhabi. Today, Fatima continues to work with New York-based galleries providing south Asian and Middle Eastern artworks to a variety of clientele between UAE, India, and New York. In 2022 she curated three successful exhibitions with Iris Art Advisory: Versus collective conciseness, Fractured existence, and Chill: summer in the city. Fatima also runs an art podcast 'TART', where she shares her experiences, thoughts, and perception of the Art world, encouraging the public to re-evaluate their opinion on art.

Iris Art Advisory

Iris Art Advisory is a premier art consultancy firm based in the United Arab Emirates, founded by Lateefa Bin Hamoodah and Maryam Al Falasi. The Founders are avid art collectors with a common academic background in art history and archaeology gained from the Sorbonne Abu Dhabi. They longed to create a unique and unequalled platform that would cater to the eminent desire of the acquisition of art in the region specifically and the globe generally. Iris offers an all-encompassing service through profuse global connections with artists and galleries to ensure the best artworks for clients. The founders are driven by discovering new emerging artists globally in addition to established artists to ensure Iris displays access to both primary and secondary markets.

XVA Gallery

XVA Gallery is one of the leading Middle East galleries, specializing in contemporary art from the Arab world, Iran, and the Subcontinent. The exhibitions focus on works by the region's foremost artists and those emerging onto the scene. The gallery's artists express their different cultural identities and perspectives while challenging the viewer to drop prejudices and borders. XVA Gallery exhibits locally and internationally, collaborating with galleries and participating in international art fairs, such as Art Basel Hong Kong, SH Contemporary, Singapore Art Fair and Abu Dhabi Art, to further expose Middle Eastern contemporary art. XVA Gallery and XVA Art Hotel are located in the Dubai heritage district, now called Al Fahidi Historical Neighborhood. XVA founded and organized the Bastakiya Art Fair from 2007- 2010 as part of its commitment to raising the profile of contemporary art practice in Dubai.