“I’m a superstitious woman, so I don’t like to even say the words ‘writer’s block’,” she laughs. “Instead, I call it a creative dry spell that went on for too long. I had years in which I could not write fiction, and I was very unhappy.”

Faisal Al Hassan is the director of 421 Arts Campus in Abu Dhabi’s Mina Zayed district. Over the past decade, he has guided the evolution of a repurposed industrial space into a platform that nurtures emerging artists and serves as a connection point for the creative community. As 421 marks its 10th anniversary, Al Hassan reflects on continuity, capability building, and being the catalyst for change. 

Sculptor, ceramicist, painter, and spiritualist, Rachid Koraïchi has had a five-decade, internationally recognised career. Algerian by birth, raised in Tunisia, and now based between Tunisia and Paris, his work has appeared in major collections and biennials around the world. Yet this season marks a significant first: a major solo exhibition at Sharjah Art Foundation.

In Arabic, the work that gives its name to the title of Afra Al Dhaheri’s first institutional show—Restless Circle, open until December 14 at Sharjah Art Foundation—is a poetic concept. Dā’ira hā’ira is a rhyming expression: “dā’ira” means circle, while “hā’ira” suggests uncertainty or, metaphorically, spinning in circles.

Dubai’s Efie Gallery, which since its launch in 2021 has established itself as a vital platform for artists of African origin, will inaugurate its new space this April with a monumental solo exhibition by the internationally celebrated Cuban artist María Magdalena Campos-Pons. Running from April 11 to May 21, the exhibition not only presents Campos-Pons’ work to the region in a dedicated solo show but also underscores Efie’s commitment to expanding the reach of artists from Africa and its diaspora.

Rooted in personal history and collective memory, Hazem Harb’s practice explores how exile leaves its mark on architectural form and cultural identity. Born in Gaza and based in Dubai, Harb’s visual language frequently references architectural ruins and archival imagery that evoke the fragility of built environments and the precariousness of home. At once intimate and expansive, his collages, sculptures, and installations explore the physical and symbolic structures shaped by war and exile presenting them not merely as remnants of destruction, but as foundations for belonging and reconstruction.

Memory, often shaped by nostalgia, trauma, and loss, can distort or idealize the past, while truth, bound by its quest for factuality, may resist the emotional weight of recollection. In the liminal space where personal narratives and collective histories converge and diverge, artists often explore the blurred lines between truth and memory. This piece explores how four artists from the Dubai Collection portray human existence through the lens of social norms, intangible experiences and history within the context of individual and collective memories.

Adrian Pepe prompts reflections on our shared materiality and mortality with his exhibition A Shroud is a Cloth at NIKA Project Space, Dubai.

Jake Andrew’s work is a fusion of digital, physical and audio which he describes as a contemporary view of abstraction and a presentation of what painting can be in the future.

Vietnamese artist Trần Lương’s survey exhibition Tầm Tã—Soaked in the Long Rain at Dubai’s Jameel Arts Centre delves into personal and political histories.

Despite disparate geographical, historical, and cultural backgrounds, a common thread is found in our relation to the earth. It is this concept that Shamma Al Mheiri explored for her curation of Solace in Soil, a duo exhibition running at Efie Gallery in Dubai until October 6. Al Mheiri, an Emirati curator and art historian, brought together the sculptural works of Kenyan Maggie Otieno and Sharjah’s Dr. Mohamed Yousif.

Emily Karaka's political landscapes stand out in 'Ka Awatea, A New Dawn' at Sharjah Art Foundation.

The New Zealand artist of Maori descent advocates for social justice and equity through her expressionist canvases.

This autumn, Sharjah Art Museum presents key pieces from the permanent collection of the Jordan National Gallery of Fine Arts.

The horseshoe-shaped, dynamic brushstrokes of I Am You by Jordanian painter and art historian Wijdan are at once abstract and spiritual. The 2008 work is an ode to the Sufi interpretation of Islam and pays tribute to the beauty of Arabic calligraphy as an art form.

Sharjah has long straddled the divide between ancient and contemporary. The emirate has led the charge in embracing its deep-rooted history while at the same time hosting a plethora of heavyweight cultural events in art, literature, music, and more. Tanweer Festival, which makes its much-anticipated debut this November, continues this rich tradition. The festival is a showcase of world music, art, and culinary journeys aimed at fostering cultural understanding and global harmony.

Although Lamya Gargash often turns her lens to forgotten spaces, vacant rooms or objects, it is the trace of human presence that she seeks to capture. In the rapidly modernising UAE, change is a subject that continually draws attention, but in Gargash’s work there is also a kind of stillness. A viewer can sense traces of the people that once inhabited the space, or the forces of nature that are taking over. It is a documentation of transition.

For the past nine years, over the course of a week in early November, Dubai Design District [d3] transforms into a hub of creativity. True to its name, the district is the location for Dubai Design Week, a festival that provides a platform for both emerging and established designers, architects, educators, companies, and all creative practitioners. In addition to attracting industry professionals, it is also something that engages the public with large-scale outdoor installations, exhibitions and public interventions – and it's free to attend, which means it’s something everyone can enjoy.

When technology asks us to consider our reflection for the better. A review of The Digital Awakening.

"This is a radical jump from the doomerism that persistently infiltrates public opinion about the rise of AI, where fear-based thinking sees machine intelligence an extinction risk. And it offers hope."

When an all-male cast of 13 virtuoso dancers from Algeria and Morocco took to the stage atThe Arts Center in New York University Abu Dhabi, audiences were thrilled by the stunning display of contemporary dance that combined capoeira, martial arts and urban-style street dance with powerful imagery evocative of orientalist paintings and the stone filigree of Islamic architecture.