The Union of Artists: an artistic installation embodying the essence of unity
Dubai Culture and Arts Authority (Dubai Culture), in collaboration with Art Dubai, has unveiled the ‘Union of the Artists’ Public Art Sculpture, a large-scale installation under the Dubai Public Art initiative, designed to turn the emirate into an extensive, welcoming canvas for art. The installation was revealed in one of Dubai’s most beautiful public gardens in Al Hudaiba, overlooking the Etihad Museum and Union House, and delivers remarkable artistic encounters, elevating visual culture and nurturing innovation.
The ‘Union of the Artists’ installation delves into the relationship between tension and balance and recurring elements in the works of these artists, who have ingeniously crafted a visually captivating artistic sculpture, where seven pillars symbolisethe united spirit that binds the people of the UAE. These pillars represent themes like teamwork, cooperation, equality, solidarity, and cohesion.
The artistic work explores the relationship between balance and cooperation elements that are recurrent in the creations of the five artists who devised a visually captivating artistic sculpture. The artists drew inspiration from the construction of the traditional ‘Areesh,’ reflecting a collective effort, collaboration, cohesion, and equality. Requiring commitment and balance, as shown in the seamless integration of palm branches and tensioned rope, the installation represents the interconnectedness between the emirates community, aligning with the nature of the Etihad Museum, which documents the moments of the union's birth, the nation's stories, and the inspiring approach of the founding fathers.
The ‘Union of the Artists’ installation carries the distinctive marks of a quintet of Emirati artists: Mohamed Ahmed Ibrahim, a pioneering experimentalist; Shaikha Al Mazrou, visual arts professor at New York University Abu Dhabi; Asma Belhamar, Assistant Professor at the College of Arts and Creative Industries at Zayed University; Khaled Albanna, who employs collage techniques to explore topics related to the history of the UAE and its rapid transformation; and Afra Al Dhaheri, who draws inspiration from her upbringing in Abu Dhabi.
About the Artists
Mohamed Ahmed Ibrahim
Ibrahim is known as one of the UAE’s earliest experimental artists and an influential member of the UAE’s now-historic avant-garde art community, which formed in the early 1980s. Major institutions that have acquired his work include the British Museum, Centre George Pompidou, Sharjah Art Foundation, Art Jameel, and Barjeel Art Foundation. He represented the UAE at the 2022 Venice Biennale. His work was included in the Kochi-Muziris Biennial 2016 and numerous exhibitions internationally.
Shaikha Al Mazrou
Shaikha Al Mazrou is an artist and a professor of Visual Art at the New York University Abu Dhabi. She received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Sharjah (2010) and a Master’s from Chelsea College of Fine Art, University of the Arts, London (2014).
Asma Belhamar
Asma Belhamar is a visual artist holding a Bachelor's degree in Visual Arts from Zayed University in 2012, and MFA in Textile Design at Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI (2017). She worked as a graphic designer in the marketing and publishing department at Zayed University in Dubai before joining the Salama bint Hamdan Emerging Artists Fellowship in partnership with the Rhode Island School of Design, Abu Dhabi in 2014, and was an Artist-in-Residence at March Project, Sharjah Art Foundation, Sharjah, UAE and Porthmeor Studio, St Ives, UK both in 2019. Most of Asma's art revolves around the ‘megastructure’ in the emirates and its impact on the topographical memory of local landscapes. She specializes in surface design and patterns, with a particular focus on creating wall coverings and wallpaper. Belhamar involves herself with innovative printing and projection methods that give rise to three-dimensional structures.
Khalid Albanna
Khalid Albanna utilises the art of collage to explore themes related to the history of the UAE and its rapid transformation. His artistic reputation has been solidified through the recognition he has garnered for his captivating black and white paintings and dynamic textual compositions, reflecting his fascination with architectural engineering and construction. Al Banna joined the Emirates Fine Arts Society’s in 1997 and has participated in numerous art exhibitions, including Al Burda Endowment Exhibition at Manarat Al Saadiyat, Abu Dhabi (2019), ‘Portrait of a Nation’ exhibition Abu Dhabi Festival (2016), which traveled to me Collectors Room Berlin/Olbricht Foundation, Berlin (2017) as well as Kennedy Centre, Washington DC (2010), and group exhibitions in France and Austria. In 2023, he broadened his artistic scope with significant sculptural projects at Sharjah's Maraya Art Centre. Additionally, he collaborated with the Union team on a commissioned piece for Dubai Culture, marking a notable expansion of his work into the public art sphere.
Afra Al Dhaheri
Afra Al Dhaheri’s work is rooted in her experiences of Abu Dhabi and the wider UAE – a place of recent and rapid change. Working across various mediums including mixed media, sculpture, drawing, painting, installation, photography, and printmaking, she draws out notions of time and adaptation, rigor and fragility.
