Artist Dagmar Braendle's work titled 'One of Us', at the 'Against the tide' art show
Dubai - The 6th edition of 'Against the tides' is giving artists - all women - the opportunity to showcase their works with the theme of diversity
Published: Sat 3 Sep 2016, 9:31 PM
Last updated: Sat 3 Sep 2016, 11:36 PM
Art exhibitions abound galore in the UAE, particularly now that the events season has started. This week sees a motley crew of women come together to put up a show that is offbeat in both intent and the choice of artists.
Local events company Woman2Woman (W2W) is holding the 6th edition of its annual 'Against the tides' exhibition, which sports a different theme every year. A platform for locally based talent in the region, the event offers a bunch of artists - all women - the opportunity to come together in a group show and associate their name with a socially conscious theme, according to Zareen Khan, W2W founder.
Interestingly, the quality of their artworks weren't merely the criteria for bagging a spot at the exhibition. Zareen said: "We picked the artists based on their thoughts on diversity, after asking them to send in write-ups on what diversity meant to them. We then made the final selections based on their thought process."
The final 27 artists hail from Austria, Canada, Egypt, India, Lebanon, Pakistan, Scotland, Sri Lanka, Switzerland and Syria - truly capturing diversity.
All of 5 and wants to build bridges to peace
The 27 participating artists at the 'Against the tides' exhibition are also as eclectic as their theme, ranging across age groups and artistic sentiments.
Sarrah Tambawala, for instance, is the youngest of the lot. Just five years old, she has a room filled with canvases. The little girl chose to display her painting of a bridge, saying: "If this world could learn to build more bridges rather than burn them, how different would our lives be."
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Curiouser is the fact that the organisers never intended it to be a women-only exhibit, never mind their name or that they specialise in unique networking events for the ladies. "This exhibition was open to male and female artists; it's a sheer coincidence that only female artists responded to the theme of the show!" pointed out Zareen.
It was also clear at the outset that the entries captured the intrinsic diversity of the UAE. "I think one of my artists explains it well. Dubai-based Dagmar Braendle wrote in that 'diversity and acceptance and tolerance is the most important thing ... The UAE is living proof that all cultures can live in harmony together ... We live in freedom and respect one another, and this country is my inspiration for embracing diversity'."
For W2W, the exhibition is all about embracing diversity and increasing acceptance, unity and peace, especially given the recent events and strife around the world. "We want to add an artistic perspective to our current reality," Zareen noted. "As creative individuals, they can address this by underlining the theme of embracing what's different, using art as a means."
Against the Tide is on at Cartoon Art Gallery, Al Quoz, till September 8. Entry is free, and all artworks are available for sale.
marypaulose@khaleejtimes.com
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