“It’s an honor to be part of Abu Dhabi Art’s Al Ain commission — to witness a land where light remembers and ancient towers stand as witnesses. Through the lens of the camera obscura, I explore العَيْن as both eye and spring, revealing the delicate interplay between perception, place, and time. I look forward to walking alongside the Al Ain community and offering a reading of this remarkable place — like a spring, ever alive.”  - Issam Kourbaj, Artist, Artists Commissions in Cultural Sites 2025

────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

Issam Kourbaj comes from a background of fine art, architecture and theatre design. He was born in Syria and trained at the Institute of Fine Arts in Damascus, the Repin Institute of Fine Arts & Architecture in Leningrad (St Petersburg) and at Wimbledon School of Art (London). Since 1990, he has lived and worked in Cambridge, eventually becoming an Artist in Residence at Christ’s College, a Bye-Fellow (2007-2011) and a Lector in Art.

In 2009, as part of Cambridge University’s celebration of its 800th anniversary, Issam was invited to design the sets for the play Let Newton Be! and for a contemporary dance piece Light Matters, which was presented in the University Senate House. His Cambridge Palimpsest, a puzzle box linking time and archaeology, was also published by Cambridge University Press as part of the celebrations and was presented to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge during their first official visit to Cambridge.

He is interested in collaborating with other creative science and humanity disciplines and has produced work using different forms of Camerae obscurae, inspired by Ibn Al-Haytham’s work on optics.

His work has been widely exhibited, collected, and exhibited in several museums around the world: Fitzwilliam Museum, Classical Archaeology Museum and Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge; the British Museum and Victoria and Albert Museum, London; Henry Moore Institute, Leeds; Wereldmuseum (formerly Tropenmuseum), Amsterdam; Penn Museum, Philadelphia; Brooklyn Museum, New York, among others.

His Dark Water, Burning World is in the permanent collection of the Pergamon Museum, San Diego Museum of Art and the British Museum. For the BBC’s ‘A History of the World in 100 Objects,’ Neil MacGregor (the former director of the British Museum) chose it as the 101st object. 

Portrait Image - courtesy Kettle’s Yard, University of Cambridge

"I’m so happy to be invited to create an installation at Al Ain Oasis. Being there last year was such a beautiful experience, and I’m excited to return this year and share more of our African culture and stories. Art connects people, and I’m grateful for this chance to keep building that connection through creativity and tradition. This opportunity shows us how deeply connected we all are through creativity, culture and tradition.”- Nike Davies-Okundaye, Artist, Artists Commissions in Cultural Sites 2025

────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

Chief Nike Davies-Okundaye (b. 1951, Ogidi, Nigeria) is a pioneering Nigerian artist, textile designer, and cultural entrepreneur renowned for her revival and global promotion of Yoruba textile traditions. Nike began weaving at the age of six, learning from her great-grandmother who was a weaver and adire textile maker. She mastered adire indigo resist-dyeing, weaving, embroidery, and appliqué, and has become one of the most prominent custodians of these art forms. In the 1960s, she was associated with the Osogbo Art Movement, where she developed a bold visual language blending tradition and modern life. Affectionally known as “Mama Nike”, she is a seminal figure of the Nigerian art community, with four art centres throughout the country. Over five decades, Nike has exhibited internationally and conducted workshops across Europe, the United States, Asia, and Africa, introducing audiences to the techniques and philosophies of Yoruba art. She is the founder of the Nike Art Foundation and Nike Art Galleries, which provide training and support to thousands of young artists and craftspeople. Through her practice and institutions, Davies-Okundaye has advanced cultural preservation and the global recognition of Nigerian artistic heritage. 

Image is courtesy Nike Davies-Okundaye

────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

This page was last updated in October 2025. 

"We are honored to be participating in this edition of Artists Commissions in Cultural Sites by Abu Dhabi Art, a moment that allows us to bring our work into dialogue with such an ancient and significant site like Al Hili Archeological Park.” - Ramin Haerizadeh, Rokni Haerizadeh, and Hesam Rahmanian, Artists, Artists Commissions in Cultural Sites 2025

────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

In the art making of Ramin Haerizadeh, Rokni Haerizadeh, and Hesam Rahmanian, production is performance, and the performance is a collective action leading to dance, art, and politics. The trio investigates a model of how to collaborate, translating it into multiple forms which often evolve around artists and people from different walks of life. Through this body assembly, creating a self-sustaining creative life; how to build an aesthetic and undermine it; how to be politically acute and humorous, generous and eccentric.  

Their work is often referred to as a landscape where the complex nature of processing is integrated into the nested system that forms the landscape of their practice. Their home is a working studio, a film set, a library and a research center. The house informs their art as it results from both collective and individual endeavor. The artists are not a distinct group or collective as their practice often evolves around other artists and friends.  

Ramin, Rokni, and Hesam live and work in Abu Dhabi, UAE. 

────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

This page was last updated in October 2025.