Shaikha Al Mazrou (b. 1988, UAE) received her MFA in 2014 at the Chelsea College of Fine Art, University of the Arts, London where she was awarded the prestigious MFA Student Prize. Prior to that she studied at the College of Fine Arts and Design, University of Sharjah where she later was a sculpture lecturer. Currently she is an Assistant Arts Professor of Visual Arts at NYU Abu Dhabi.

Al Mazrou’s practice is anchored in the history of art, borrowing formally from minimalism and intellectually from conceptual art. In her practice she combines and evolves ideas from contemporary artistic movements similarly preoccupied with formal and material elements, from colour theory to geometric abstraction. 

Often in her works she combines mass-produced materials - such as electronic waste or construction materials - with colour and form, experimenting with these resources to create abstract geometric arrangements. Fascinated by notions of physical space, her sculptures and installations materialise as simple gestures that emphasise the representation of tension, weight and space.

She is a winner of the Paulo Cunha e Silva Art Prize (2020) and was shortlisted for the Louvre Abu Dhabi Richard Mille Art Prize.

Al Mazrou lives and works in Dubai and Abu Dhabi and is represented by Lawrie Shabibi.

Mohammed Kazem (born 1969, Dubai) lives and works in Dubai. He has developed an artistic practice that encompasses video, photography and performance to find new ways of apprehending his environment and experiences. The foundations of his work are informed by his training as a musician, and Kazem is deeply engaged with developing processes that can render transient phenomena, such as sound and light, in tangible terms. Often positioning himself within his work, Kazem responds to geographical location, materiality and the elements as a means to assert his subjectivity, particularly in relation to the rapid pace of modernisation in the Emirates since the country’s founding.

Kazem was a member of the Emirates Fine Arts Society early in his career and is acknowledged as one of the 'Five', an informal group of Emirati artists – including Hassan Sharif, Abdullah Al Saadi, Mohammed Ahmed Ibrahim, and Hussain Sharif – at the vanguard of conceptual and interdisciplinary art practice. In 2012, he completed his Masters in Fine Art at the University of the Arts, Philadelphia. In recent years, he has participated in several group shows in venues such as Hayy Jameel, Jeddah (2023), Sharjah Art Foundation, Sharjah (2023), 21,39 Jeddah Arts (2020), Guggenheim Abu Dhabi (2017), Guggenheim New York (2016), the Yinchuan Biennale (2016), Sharjah Biennial (2015), Gwangju Museum of Art (2014), Fotofest Biennial in Houston (2014), amongst others. In 2013 he represented the UAE’s National Pavilion at the Venice Biennale with an immersive video installation entitled Walking on Water, curated by Reem Fadda, and in 2015 he showcased works from the Tongue series at 1980 – Today: Exhibitions in the UAE, curated by Hoor Al Qasimi.

His works are held in the collections of the British Museum, London; Guggenheim Abu Dhabi and New York; Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, Doha; Sharjah Art Foundation, Sharjah; Barjeel Art Foundation, Sharjah; Vehbi Koç Foundation, Istanbul; King Abdulaziz Centre for World Culture, Dhahran, among others.

Mohamed Kazem is 2024 Visual Campaign Artist and he is represented by Dubai based Gallery Isabelle

Emirati artist Mohamed Ahmed Ibrahim is part of the UAE's first generation of contemporary artists from the late 1980s, an avant-garde scene that included Hassan Sharif, Abdullah Al Saadi, Hussein Sharif, and Mohammed Kazem. Ibrahim’s work has been inspired by a lifelong relationship with the environment of Khorfakkan, his place of birth, with the Gulf of Oman on one side and the Hajar Mountains on the other. This deep connection to his local environment repeats itself throughout his studio practice, whether through his installations, drawings or objects, and the materials he has worked with for over three decades. His hand made objects are shaped like primitive tools, bones or parts of trees and appear to have been unearthed from some ancient den, rather than handcrafted. His works on paper reveal his own form of language - inscriptions, lines and abstract forms that are reminiscent of ancient cave drawings - marking time and memory through meditative repetition.

Mohamed Ahmed Ibrahim is 2023 Visual Campaign Artist and he is represented by Dubai based Gallery Lawrie Shabibi.

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).

Shaikha Al Ketbi is a visual artist whose multimedia practice spans photography, drawing and installation art. Her work explores themes of self-awareness and blurs the line between fiction and reality. Much of her current practice involves instantaneous performative responses to isolated landscapes, framed through her vivid, experiential dreams. Al Ketbi is a graduate of Zayed University and her work has been included in exhibitions including the 2018 Arab Women Artists Now exhibition ‘Perpetual Movement’ in London, 2018; Art Bahrain 2018; Armenia Art Fair 2018; UAE Unlimited’s ‘Ishara: Signs, Symbols and Shared Languages’ exhibition 2018; the Zayed University graduate exhibition in 2016; ‘Collectivity’ at Maraya Art Centre; and the 2018 Tribe Magazine’s ‘Tribe: Contemporary Photography from the Arab World’ in Washington, DC. She participated in the Salama bint Hamdan Al Nayhan Foundation Emerging Artists Fellowship from 2016-17. She is also one of the founding members of the Public Art Collective, a group dedicated to the research and advancement of public art dialogue in the UAE. Shaikha Al Ketbi was 2019 Beyond: Emerging Artist and 2021 Visual Campaign Artist.

Rawdha Khalifa Al Ketbi is an Emirati visual artist who works with found materials and memories from abandoned places. Her main practice involves photography, mixed media and installation art. She spends most of her time outdoors, exploring her surroundings and specifically abandoned places, collecting objects that hold memories in order to preserve the history of ‘place’. This interest has led her to explore different mediums and to experiment with techniques to ‘age’ the materials she finds. She recently travelled to Italy where she took classes as part of a University Intercultural Project; she has also worked with Anna Higgs for an exhibition in Germany, and worked on an opera design project in Warsaw, Poland. Her recent exhibitions include ‘Stranded’ and ‘Welcoming’, held in Alserkal Avenue in Dubai, and also ‘Transitional’ held at Abu Dhabi Art Fair 2018. She continues to seek the thrill of abandoned places in her practice today, a source of inspiration for her works. Al Ketbi is currently undertaking a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in visual arts at the College of Arts and Creative Enterprises, Zayed University, Abu Dhabi. Rawdha Khalifa Al Ketbi was 2019 Beyond: Emerging Artist and 2021 Visual Campaign Artist.

Ayesha Hadhir, (born 1994, Abu Dhabi, UAE) studied visual art at the College of Arts and Creative Enterprises at Zayed University. Hadhir works predominantly in installations. Most of her work focusses on growth and change with time to bring materials back to their historical roots. Everything is connected with each other: through the materials she chooses, through the nature of the UAE, through the way she merges the materials with each other and with nature – and very importantly – through the history of her family. Her latest series involves the documentation of underwater installations that she has created from found objects. In her career she has exhibited at ‘Neither Visible… Nor Concealed’ curated by Ramin Haerizadeh, Rokni Haerizadeh and Hesam Rahmanian as part of Abu Dhabi Art Beyond: Emerging Artists programme, Abu Dhabi, in 2019 and at a solo show with ‘Al Doobah’, curated by Walter Willems, at Alserkal Avenue, Dubai, in 2018. She has also participated in group exhibitions including ’Tashweesh’, commissioned by UAE Unlimited at Maraya Arts Centre, Sharjah, 2019; 35th Annual Exhibition, curated by Nasser Abdullah, Emirates Fine Art Society, Sharjah, 2018; ‘Emirati Traditional Games’, curated by Sumayya Al Suwaidi, at Al Qattara Arts Centre, Al Ain, 2017; and ‘Do Art, Do it Now’ commissioned by the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi project, Manarat Al Saadiyat, Abu Dhabi, 2017. Hadhir was selected as one of the Salama bint Hamdan Emerging Artists Fellowship (SEAF) recipients, for the ‘Community and Critique: SEAF 2016/17 Cohort 4’ exhibition, and completed an art residency with the Cultural Foundation in 2019. She works in arts programing at Warehouse421, Abu Dhabi. Ayesha Hadhir was 2019 Beyond: Emerging Artist and 2021 Visual Campaign Artist.

Trained in mathematics and science, Ebtisam Abdulaziz is an artist who places her practice within self-devised structures and systems. She creates codes and graphic language to explore issues surrounding her personal identity and culture through installation, performance and works on paper. Combining the scientific with the arbitrary and at times juxtaposing the two, Abdulaziz forces her viewers to question their assumptions about rules in the natural and formulaic world. Graduating with a double bachelor’s degree in mathematics and science from Al Ain University in 1999, Abdulaziz has exhibited in many international exhibitions and was part of the inaugural UAE and Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture & Heritage (ADACH) Pavilion at 53rd Venice Biennale in 2009. In 2014, her work was part of the touring exhibition of Past Forward: Contemporary Art from the Emirates, which took place across several American cities and is included in international collections.

Monira Al Qadiri (b. 1983) is a Kuwaiti visual artist born in Senegal and educated in Japan. Spanning sculpture, installation, film and performance, Al Qadiri's multifaceted practice is mainly based on research into the cultural histories of the Gulf region. Her interpretation of the Gulf's  so-called "petro-culture" is manifested through speculative scenarios that take inspiration from science fiction, autobiography, traditional practices and pop culture, resulting in uncanny and covertly subversive works. She is currently based in Berlin.

Tarek Al-Ghoussein is an artist and a Professor of Visual Art at New York University. His work explores the boundaries between landscape photography, self-portraiture and performance art. Choosing locations much in the same way a film director does, he moves between abstraction and the specific circumstances found in particular places. Relying on subtle interventions and non-invasive interactions, the images consider various aspects of "identity". Al-Ghoussein has exhibited extensively in Europe, the United States and the Middle East and has participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions in prominent venues such as the 53rd and 55th Venice Biennales; the Singapore Biennale; the 6th and 7th Sharjah Biennales; Gyeonggi Museum of Modern Art, Korea; Kunstmuseum Bochum, Germany and Aperture Gallery, NYC, USA. Al-Ghoussein's work has been acquired by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York; the British and the Victoria & Albert Museum in London; the Sharjah Art Foundations; the Mori Art Museum in Tokyo; the Royal Photography Museum in Copenhagen; and the Arab Museum of Modern Art in Doha, amongst others.