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“The Present” opens at Maraya Art Centre

The exhibition features the works of 12 talented Emirati artists who were challenged to create works that highlight the ideas and connotations behind the meaning of the word “Present”.

The exhibition which is supported by Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company –du will run until 28 November.

Curator of the exhibition Noor Al Suwaidi, said: “The exhibition features the works of 10 artists and two designers, one from the UAE and the other from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. A great deal of care and thought went into putting this exhibition together, both of the part of the organisers and the artists. The artists involved belong to various artistic schools and all of them put a immense effort into finding ways to artistically convey their message in a new and fresh format. And this is the reason behind the high quality of the displayed works as well as the extremely positive response the exhibition has received from the audience. “

The exhibition features 25 artworks of photography, painting and installations by Shamma Al Amri, Zeinab Al Hashimi, Shaikha Al Mazrou, Sharifa Horaiz, Khawla Darwish, Farah Al Qasimi, Hind Mezaina, Hamdan Buti Al Shamsi, Khalid Al Banna, and Alia Lootah, in addition to two Emirati designers, namely Khawla Al Marri and Khalid Mezaina.

‘The Present’ challenges the artists to investigate the connotations and ideas behind the word “Present” through a series of questions and texts in which artists are invited to explore the meanings and concepts of the present.

“The exhibition’s title poses a major challenge to the Emirati artists who expressed their own interpretations about the present in their works using a unique and simple style that highlights how deeply rooted art is in the UAE, thus reflecting the artists’ ability to convey their message and ideas in a clear manner,” Maraya Art Centre Manager Giuseppe Moscatello commented.

Speaking about his works, participating artist Hamdan Buti Al Shamsi, said “I tried through my works displayed at the exhibition to explore the present and highlight the fact that the world has become a small village. It is an idea that I have depicted in my works by using signals and bill boards that bear the names of cities and countries where people travel to portray how people can travel from one continent to another, or from one country to another within a few hours or minutes via the means of modern transport means.”

The exhibition featured a collection of artworks, including ‘Finger Prints” by Farah Al Qasimi whose medium of choice is photography. In Al Qasimi’s art works, she has taken the derivative presence of the word present.

In her artworks “Between Utopian and Dystopian Times”, Shamma Al Amri is known for diversity of her mediums of visual art. In his masterpiece “2012”, Khalid Al Banna captures the present populations of people in the UAE in various fabrics, with each type of fabric reflecting a nationality and symbolizing its ratio in numbers.

In her piece “What I See”, Alia Lootah reflects the city’s constant urban development, while Hind Mezaina takes a look at movements shares with friends in her work “Conversation” through serious and not serious, yet all meaningful and cherished, conversations. Mezaina wanted to explore how to capture a moment and record it using pinhole photography.

Other events scheduled to take place during the exhibition include a panel discussion on “Present Design” moderated by Cyril Zammit along with graphic artist Zena Adhami, Khawla Al Marri and Khalid Mezaina, Director of Design Days Dubai.

A children’s workshop, titled “Through a Child’ Eyes” is also organized for 5 November as part of the public porgramme which will run alongside the exhibition.

The opening ceremony was attended by Chairman of the Sharjah Media Corporation Shaikh Sultan Bin Ahmed Al Qasimi, Chairman of the Sharjah Department of Public Works Shaikh Khalid Bin Saqr Al Qasimi, CEO of the Sharjah Investment and Development Authority “Shurooq” Marwan Bin Jassim Al Sarkal, Head of Art Directorate at the Department of Culture and Information in Sharjah Hisham Al Madhloum, du’s Vice President for Government Relations Ahmed Aburahimaand.

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