Curated Exhibitions
Art fair - Abu Dhabi Art 2023
Aisha Alabbar Gallery - Nujoom Alghanem
22 - 26 November 2023
Jolaine curates with Aisha Alabbar Gallery to show Emirati artist, poet, and multi-award-winning film director, Nujoom Alghanem (b. Dubai, 1962) at Abu Dhabi Art.
Muheera & I
Abdulrahim Salim
15 November 2023 - 15 February 2024
Aisha Alabbar Gallery
Jolaine curated Muheera & I, Abdulrahim Salim’s first solo exhibition with the gallery.
In this extensive collection spanning two decades of Salim's career, this exhibition presents a retrospective of the artist's oeuvre, including figurative drawings, paper collages, and his most renowned abstract paintings, encompassing the period from 1999 to the present day.
Central to his artistic vision is the enduring influence of folklore and the captivating character, Muheera. Initially misunderstood and burdened with a tragic narrative involving a black magic curse, Muheera has been a constant source of inspiration for Salim. Through her story, Salim not only celebrates the strength and resilience of women but also challenges preconceived notions about their role within society.
The Scent of Memories
Najat Makki
13 September - 8 November 2023
Aisha Alabbar Gallery
Jolaine curated The Scent of Memories, Najat Makki’s second solo exhibition with the gallery. Najat is a pioneering figure within the local art community, and her profound insights into the relationship between colour and the memories associated with specific places have significantly enriched the depth and diversity of her expression.
In this new body of work, she layers colours on top of each other to create intense sensory experiences in her paintings by challenging the limits of colour’s impact on our senses. Her recent works on fabric include contemporary interpretations and adaptations of the dot and paisley design from traditional fabrics.
The Scent of Memories serves as a testament to Makki’s daring and inventive approach, consistently pushing the boundaries of her practice by exploring new techniques and mediums.
Asma Belhamar and Sultan Al Remeithi
1 - 5 March 2023
Art Dubai 2023
Jolaine curates for Aisha Alabbar Gallery at Art Dubai with a presentation of Emirati artists Asma Belhamar (b. 1988) and Sultan Al Remeithi (b. 1989). Reflecting on the transition from pre to post-industrial developing rapidly during the 1980s, both artists explore contemporary Emirati nostalgia. This natural-to-urban transformation often remains commemorated in architectural structures. What were once landmark lively sites - historically inhabited by Emirati communities – have experienced spatial and cultural shifts with gentrification. While memories of this life are passed on, this recent period in Emirati history faces being forgotten. In these new bodies of work, Asma and Sultan explore this loss and question the contemporary urban fabric of the UAE.
Unframed
Nujoom Alghanem
22 February - 26 May 2023
Aisha Alabbar Gallery
Jolaine curated Unframed, a solo exhibition by Nujoom Alghanem. Bringing together for the first time historical and new paintings as well as a new series of photographic film stills, the exhibition identifies key moments from Nujoom’s two-decade-plus career as an artist, poet, and filmmaker, looking beyond the metaphoric film reel and focusing one frame at a time.
In Search of Eden
Bénédicte Gimonnet
11 January - 18 February 2023
Aisha Alabbar Gallery
Jolaine curated, In Search of Eden by Bénédicte Gimonnet. In her first solo exhibition at the gallery, the UAE-based French painter creates new imaginative environments where, like an idealistic idiom of multiculturalism, difference literally grows and feeds from each other. It’s the antonym for “garden variety” – an Eden that necessarily embodies diversity, and Bénédicte gathers disparate material and conceptual elements together.
Alia Hussain Lootah
16 - 20 November 2022
Abu Dhabi Art 2022
Jolaine curated for Aisha Alabbar Gallery at Abu Dhabi Art 2022, a new body of work by Emirati artist Alia Hussain Lootah (b. Dubai, 1987).
Consisting of three series each made in a different medium, Alia’s new works are continued explorations of kinship, interconnectedness and domesticity. Alia began exploring these concepts during the Salama bint Hamdan Emerging Artists Fellowship (SEAF) in 2014, drawing from her experience with motherhood. Since then, her representation of the subject developed through a protracted inward-looking process over six years, moving from figuration and familial intimacy to more abstract expressions.
square: not square
Eman Al Hashemi
15 September - 29 December 2022
Aisha Alabbar Gallery
Jolaine curated square: not square, Eman Al Hashemi’s first solo exhibition at the gallery. In this exhibition, the multidisciplinary Emirati artist addresses the effects of waiting by isolating different square-based objects and utensils from their everyday usage and subjecting them to surreal, slightly funny tests of time and multiplicity.
In multiple series of works made in ceramics, stitched and compressed paper, and concertinaed books, the artworks highlight the differences that emerge from sameness. Square plates are stacked up, squares form uneven grids, and spoons sit alongside each other in a parody of identical manufacture. For Eman, the repetition of objects speaks not to the purity of mathematics but to the contextual reality of life. By carefully making every work herself, she emphasises individuation and difference in what are ostensibly identical objects.
Chill: Summer in the City
In collaboration with Iris Art Advisory
7 June - 9 September 2022
Aisha Alabbar Gallery
Aisha Alabbar Gallery eases into the summer season with Chill: Summer in the City, a group exhibition in collaboration with Iris Art Advisory, featuring works by Ahmed Emad, Lama Alshenaifi, Safeya Sharif and Yosra Emamizadeh.
Summer in the UAE is not always the stereotypical fantasy where one chills on the beach and sips and icy drink by a palm tree. Instead, as the mercury passes above 40 degrees Celsius, residents are on the hunt from one air-conditioned environment to the next. Best described as a habitat that cultivates dreams, our vibrant cities change pace and drive society to look inwards. Indoor spaces transform into cool capsules that defy the heat and push the limits of imagination. This exhibition brings together four artists who aim to cool you down.
NO
Mohamed Al Mazrouei
2 March - 29 May 2022
Aisha Alabbar Gallery
Jolaine curates NO, a solo exhibition by prominent Emirati artist and poet Mohamed Al Mazrouei. Comprised new and existing works that date back to the 1980s, NO becomes a gesture to follow a thread in his practice and shows his interest in language’s dynamism.
The concept behind Al Mazrouei’s first exhibition at the gallery comes from a textile remnant found along the street in Cairo. The artist noticed how this fragment with the English word “NO” reflected his current intention and orientation, feeling alienated, not geographically, but as a personal feeling of estrangement or expression of nostalgia.
The Quest
Curated by Nasser Abdullah
12 January - 26 February 2022
Aisha Alabbar Gallery presented The Quest, a group exhibition curated by Nasser Abdullah that features four UAE-based artists: Alia Hussain Lootah, Majd Alloush, Sara Ahli, and Zeina Al Kattan.
Taking inspiration from Amin Maalouf’s 2004 novel Origins, the exhibition explores life experiences that set forth an artist’s path. While these experiences are met on the search for answers about the meaning of life and its purpose, those who create through the lens of these accumulated experiences are the ones we call “artists.”
The quest to understand the purpose of this life varies across people and interests. Art appears to be an attempt to understand the contexts of the ever-changing reality in which we live, forcing the artist to experience several adventures, and follow history, news and anecdotes to obtain answers and come to realisations that would allow them to start a new artistic experience. This leads them to deeper, more profound questions, once again prompting a never-ending journey of reflection.
Mona Al Khaja and Laila Juma
17 - 21 November 2021
Abu Dhabi Art 2021
Jolaine curated Aisha’s first participation at Abu Dhabi Art, with a selection of new paintings by Emirati artist Mona Al Khaja and sculptures by Laila Juma
In Mona’s most recent paintings, the artist draws from personal encounters with travel and street life. She explores life as it occurred before the pandemic using grades of bright colours to emphasize minute details that in turn propel the viewer to experience the smell of spices in the souq, the textures of thread in Al Hussein, moments of light and shade in Al Seef, the taste of fresh produce on the side of the road, and the rush of purpose that drives life every day.
These exhibited paintings represent a culmination of Mona’s extensive experience as an artist and as a traveler and a romantic observer, who seeks beauty in life. She shows that time is precious and encourages viewers to use it consciously to experience reality fully.
Squaring the Circle
Layla Juma
28 September - 31 December 2021
Aisha Alabbar Gallery
Jolaine curated Squaring the Circle by Emirati artist Layla Juma. In her first solo exhibition at the gallery, Juma explores the complexities of subtle states, finding balance by merging physical forms with abstract ideas. The artist sees shapes not as we see them but as dynamic beings with the potential to align despite their unique properties. Squaring the circle becomes a challenging process that looks for overlapping points in disconnected areas and blurs the divide between rational perception and experimental methods.
I Write in Colour
Dr. Najat Makki
31 March - 5 September 2021
Aisha Alabbar Gallery
Jolaine curated I Write in Colour, the first solo exhibition of the artist at the gallery. Dr. Makki is considered one of the innovators of the local scene and has contributed to the complexity and richness of its artistic expression through her experimentation with color compositions and the use of fluorescent paints. Makki’s consuming intrigue by the semantics of color and her skillful brush were harnessed at a young age, when she would witness the colormap of vivid herbs laid out in sacks at her father’s spice shop. Thyme, henna, saffron and curcumin lured her in, presenting a new dawn of shade, texture and scent. To this day, Makki’s practice is marked by daring surveys of new natural and synthetic materials, influenced by her reading of philosophy, poetry and her affinity for music. At times, she opts for large scrolls where paint bounces like music notes or rhythmic prose in melodic harmony.
Layered Contradictions
Khalid Al Banna
27 January - 6 March 2021
Aisha Alabbar Gallery
Jolaine curated Layered Contradictions, the first solo exhibition of the artist at the gallery. Repetition and chance are contemporary artist Khalid Al Banna’s modus operandi. Surveying his characteristic body of work in collage and fabric, Layered Contradictions reveals his approach to world building that transcends the limitations of reality. A tireless experimenter who pushes the limits of his own practice, Al Banna takes a chance on the inspiration of the moment in a meditation of form and technique that captures a tension between deep deliberation and the promise of randomness.
Bloom: a metamorphosis of paper
Li Hongbo
December 2019 – February 2020
Maraya Art Centre, Sharjah
The 22nd edition of the Sharjah Islamic Arts Festival features an exhibition titled Bloom by Beijing-based sculptor Li Hongbo, curated by Jolaine Frizzell. It marks Li's first solo exhibition in the Gulf region. Through his unique approach, Li transforms paper sculpture and traditional Chinese craft practices, challenging viewers' perceptions by presenting objects that initially appear as flowers but reveal themselves to be guns and artillery when viewed from a distance. This juxtaposition serves as an allegorical commentary on the disarmament of weapons for peace amidst the darkness of the world. Inspired by Islamic design traditions observed in tiling, carpets, and mosaics, Li incorporates a cross-cultural perspective, merging Chinese craft traditions with Islamic patterns and motifs. The exhibition showcases thousands of paper objects filling Maraya Art Centre's gallery space, reminiscent of the historic tradition of papermaking in Chinese culture. Li's meticulous layering technique creates intricate forms that evoke both materiality and immateriality, drawing on the symbolism of auspicious lanterns and gourds found in everyday Chinese life.
Living Shrines: Uyghur Manifestations of Faith, Saints, and Islam in Western China
Lisa Ross
April 2014 – June 2014
Brunei Gallery, SOAS, University of London
In Living Shrines, curated by Jolaine, Lisa Ross documents the Uyghur religious tradition in the Taklamakan Desert of China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region over a decade-long period. She focuses on mazârs, Islamic pilgrimage sites honoring Sufi saints, capturing their devotional and spiritual significance. Ross's photographs evoke a sense of the sacred through the luminous glow of the sites, often depicted without human figures, allowing viewers to engage intimately with the landscape. Collaborating with Uyghur folklorist Rahile Dawut and French historian Alexandre Papas, Ross's work serves as a poignant archive of faith, cultural history, and resilience amidst social and political change.