EXHIBITIONS AT WAREHOUSE421 Warehouse421 Hosts UAE-based Artists with Two Exhibitions

Warehouse421, the region’s home-grown arts and design center, is supporting UAE-based talent with the opening of two exhibitions on 14 September 2019. Community & Critique: SEAF 2018/19 Cohort 6 show and Hollowed mark the opening of a new season at Warehouse421. The center collaborates with partners to aid the development of the local arts scene in the UAE, through exhibitions and diversified learning experiences.

Faisal Al Hassan, General Manager of Warehouse421, commented: “Both the SEAF and Hollowed exhibitions showcase artists who are early in their careers and for the majority, it will be the first time these local artists will take centre stage in a public forum. The works on display are a testament to the progression of the UAE talent pool today and addresses themes that are pertinent to our world, pushing the boundaries of regional discussion. We are delighted to be presenting them at our center and providing the artists an opportunity to share and speak about it with others; thus becoming an important moment within their continuing process.”

The Community & Critique: SEAF 2018/19 Cohort 6 show will showcase works of 15 artists from the Salama bint Hamdan Emerging Artists Fellowship (SEAF), representing the culmination of a year-long engagement in the education and development program. The themes vary from notions of tradition, insomnia, and loneliness, manifested in a variety of mediums including portraits, installations, and performance art. Each artist has used their key learnings over the year to produce work that best represents their journey and growth.

A large part of this is community and critique, which are mutually supportive, where rigorous inquiry, analysis, and reflection, support the advancement of content. Access to materials, techniques, and methods support the development of ideas, and form reveals itself through multiple iterations of the work itself.

Khulood Khaldoon Al Atiyat, Arts, Culture and Heritage Manager, Salama bint Hamdan Al Nahyan Foundation, said: “The multifaceted mission of SEAF is to boost the academic knowledge and professional skills of participating Fellows while also cultivating their ability to analyze, evaluate and discuss their work in order to prepare them for post-graduate studies and a professional life-long career in the arts. This intensive learning experience and investment in the future talent pool ensures a robust foundation for the creative ecosystem in the UAE, and propels us within the international arts community so that we are a considered an important contributor to global storytelling.”

Shamsa Al Dhaheri, untitled / Courtesy of the SEAF

The annual SEAF program from the Salama bint Hamdan Al Nahyan Foundation (SHF), in partnership with the Rhode Island School of Design, is a unique educational program designed to encourage and foster artistic growth and development. It consists of four pillars: the artistic development process, the critique process, the immersive studio practice, and an online community for participating artists. Fellows will have on-site teaching in Abu Dhabi, an educational visit to the United States, mentoring, online discussions and 24/7 access to their studio throughout the year. That will allow them to develop their artistic skills, establish a greater understanding of their work and its influences, and strengthen their ability to articulate their ideas.

The full artists and work on display at Community & Critique: SEAF 2018/19 Cohort 6 show includes:

• Fellow 1: Arwa Al Salawi

• Fellow 2: Ayesha Bin Khadia, Untitled

• Fellow 3: Christopher Benton, “Say No to Bachelors Thronging Residential Neighborhoods”

• Fellow 4: Dhabiya Al Romaithi, Untitled

• Fellow 5: Fatima Farah, “The sick kids club”

• Fellow 6: Latifa Saeed, Untitled

• Fellow 7: Layan Attari, Untitled

• Fellow 8: Rashed Al Falasi, “It’s time for bed”

• Fellow 9: Rawdha Al Ketbi, untitled

• Fellow 10: Saba Qizilbash, Disturbance

• Fellow 11: Shamma Al Bastaki, Untitled

• Fellow 12: Shamsa Al Dhaheri, Untitled

• Fellow 13: Sultan Al Remeithi, “Where it began”

• Fellow 14: Wid Al Bayaty, Untitled

• Fellow 15: Zeina Kattan, Untitled

Wid Al Bayaty, Untitled / Courtesy of the SEAF

Saba Qizilbash, Disturbance / Courtesy of the SEAF

Alongside the exhibition, Warehouse421 will be hosting a panel discussion on the opening night featuring four artists from the SEAF cohort, Latifa Saeed, Rashed Alfalasi, Saba Qizilbash, and Shamma K. Al Bastaki, to discuss their works and answer questions from the public. The session will focus on the value of constructive language as an integral tool in the artistic process.

Also opening on 14 September will be the Hollowed exhibition, the first solo exhibition from emerging Emirati visual artist Maitha Abdalla. The artist interprets "Hollowness" as a place or a feeling of emptiness, without any real worth or value, through video and sculptural artworks set in a surreal deconstructed theatrical space. She invites the audience on a two-part journey to meditate on hollowness and its transformation into various forms: emptiness, memory, waiting, and finally rebirth. Maitha aims to make socially-driven commentaries on the human condition in narrative form. Her work has a diaphanous and surreal quality and is always marked by an atmosphere of reminiscence and nostalgia.

Maitha Abdalla, Hollowed, 2019 / Courtesy of the SEAF

Maitha Abdalla, Hollowed, 2019 / Courtesy of the SEAF

An alumnus of SEAF Cohort 4, Maitha Abdalla has studied sculpture at Zayed University. She is the Co-Founder of Bait 15, an artist-run studio and exhibition space in Abu Dhabi.