Each year, Abu Dhabi Art collaborates with artists to create the fair’s visual campaign.
Abu Dhabi Art Visual Campaign artists were:
• 2021: Ayesha Hadhir | Rawdha Khalifa Al Ketbi | Shaikha Fahad Al Ketbi
• 2019: Ebtisam Abdulaziz (The Third Line)
• 2018: Monira Al Qadiri
• 2017: Tarek Al-Ghoussein (Galerie Brigitte Schenk and The Third Line)
This year Abu Dhabi Art is collaborating with Farah Al Qasimi for the 2022 Visual Campaign
"Abu Dhabi is my home, and Abu Dhabi Art was one of the first major art events I attended when I moved back home after college, so it is great to be chosen for this year’s visual campaign. A lot of my work is about and for the Emirates, so I'm happy to be able to share these images in this way."
The images for the campaign are all from very different projects. I'd say that they reflect the range of different approaches in my practice, from observing the real world to building still lives and collages in-studio. There is also a relationship to performance and gesture
Farah Al Qasimi, 2022 Visual Campaign Artist
2022 Visual Campaign Artist
2022 Visual Campaign Artist
Working primarily with photography, video and performance, Farah Al Qasimi (b. 1991, Abu Dhabi, United
Arab Emirates) examines postcolonial structures of power, gender and taste in the Gulf Arab states.
Al Qasimi studied photography and music at Yale University in 2012 and received her MFA from the Yale
School of Art in 2017. Dividing her time between Dubai and New York, Al Qasimi has integrated her
practice as a social critique and observation of the layered aspects of each place indirectly. Through her
bold and vibrant photographs, she explores the unspoken social norms and values embedded in a place, a
moment or an object. Her thought-provoking images act as an invitation for the viewer to sense the
unspoken boundaries that govern the scenes which they catch a glimpse of.
Al Qasimi’s recent works challenge the viewer to consider their own understanding of reality, aspiration,
individuality and the reflected image. In series such as 'Funhouse', Al Qasimi demonstrates her skill with
mise-en-scene in photographs that are richly detailed, evoking a tromp-l’oeil effect, which are at turns
delightful, delirious and disturbing. Elsewhere, the artist creates works that confront commonplace notions
of figurative photography and portraiture. Her recent commission with Public Art Fund, 'Back and Forth
Disco', was on view at 100 bus shelters in New York City in 2019–20 and comprised of works offering a
distinct representation of a subject without allowing the viewer full access to the person, highlighting the
unique qualities that determine individuality and capturing the diverse essence of New York City.
Selected exhibitions include; Imitation of Life, The Rencontres d'Arles, Arles, France (2021); A Question of
Taste, Pera Museum, Istanbul, Turkey (2021); Lady Lady, Cooper Cole, Toronto, Canada (2021);
Funhouse, Helena Anrather Gallery, NY, USA (2020); Back and Forth Disco, Public Art Fund, New York,
NY, USA (2020); Lahore Biennale, Lahore, Pakistan (2020); Open Arm Sea, Houston Center for
Photography, Houston, TX, USA (2020); March Projects, Sharjah Art Foundation, Sharjah, UAE (2019);
Arrival, The Third Line, Dubai, UAE (2019); Age of You, MOCA Toronto, Canada (2019); List Projects:
Farah Al Qasimi, MIT List Visual Arts Center, Cambridge, MA, USA (2019); Artist's Rooms, Jameel Arts
Centre, Dubai, UAE (2019); Conversation 7 (with Marcela Pardo Ariza), San Francisco Arts Commission,
SF, USA (2018); No to the Invasion: Breakdowns and Side Effects, CCS Bard Galleries, New York, USA
(2017); More Good News, Helena Anrather, New York (2017), and Coming Up Roses, The Third Line,
Dubai, UAE (2016).
Al Qasimi has participated in residencies at the Delfina Foundation, London (2017); the Skowhegan School
of Painting and Sculpture, Maine (2017); and was also awarded the New York NADA Artadia Prize and the
Aaron Siskind Individual Photographer's Fellowship (2018).