Sharjah: Contemporary artists present their solo work at major art exhibition

Visitors to the Sharjah Art Foundation (SAF) have a lot to explore this season. The event showcases a wide-ranging slate of solo exhibitions by pioneering contemporary artists from the MEASA region, including major exhibitions by Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Khalil Rabah, CAMP, Aref El Rayess and Gerald Annan-Forson.

Here's a look at the what's in store for art enthusiasts:

Lawrence Abu Hamdan: The Sonic Image

Turner Prize-winning artist Lawrence Abu Hamdan is presenting his latest multi-sensory works alongside an ambitious new commission titled, Air Conditioning (2022).

Collectively, these works probe the frequencies and stimulations of sound, revealing narratives concealed from history. The Sonic Image presents a distinctive form of visual expression that explores concepts of ‘atmospheric violence’ and the politics of listening.

Through research and analysis, Hamdan has crafted a new form of image-making – a picture that fluctuates between the ear and the eye, which behaves akin to sound itself.

The Sonic Image exhibition has already begun and is scheduled to run until July 4, at the Sharjah Art Foundation and Al Mureijah Square.

Khalil Rabah: What is Not

This exhibition features significant works by Rabah that were created from the 1990s to the present. The exhibition presents an overview of the artist’s ongoing projects, including the Palestinian Museum of Natural History and Humankind, the Riwaq Biennale and Collaborations: by in form, a new work commissioned by SAF, alongside his Scale Models.

What is Not will run until July 4 at Sharjah Art Foundation and Al Mureijah Square.

CAMP: Passages through Passages

This exhibition brings together a body of key works by CAMP, the Mumbai-based artist studio founded in 2007 by Shaina Anand and Ashok Sukumaran.

Presenting a cross-section of works created between 2006 and 2021, these projects encompass video and audio works, archives – including works featured in previous Sharjah Biennials– interventions and collections and draw upon the collective’s unique artistic and research methods.

The exhibition will run until July 4 at Sharjah Art Foundation – Bait Al Serkal, Arts Square.

Gerald Annan-Forson: Revolution and Image-making in Postcolonial Ghana (1979-1985)

In collaboration with The Africa Institute, SAF presents the first retrospective of the work of Ghanaian photographer Gerald Annan-Forson. Featuring photographs primarily taken by Annan-Forson between 1979 and 1985, Revolution and Image-making in Post-colonial Ghana traces the political and social life of Ghana during a period of revolution and transformation, offering a visual story of postcolonial Ghana and its struggles and aspirations in the post-independence period.

The exhibition will be on until July 7 at Al Hamriyah Studios.

• Sharjah