Jameel Arts Centre announces new solo shows by Hemali Bhuta, Farah Al Qasimi, and Seher Shah and Randhir Singh

Jameel Arts Centre, one of the first major contemporary arts institutions in Dubai, today announces its March programme: three new solo shows, by Hemali Bhuta, Farah Al Qasimi and the duo of Seher Shah and Randhir Singh, will join the existing, critically-lauded group exhibition ‘Crude’, and other, major site-specific installations. The new Artist’s Rooms open to the public on Thursday March 7, and run through until June 8, 2019; a public programme of talks, workshops and tours for all ages, devised by the artists with Art Jameel, accompanies the shows.

M Napping on Carpet 2016 by Farah Al Qasim

Drawn largely from the Art Jameel Collection, Artist’s Rooms is a series of solo exhibitions by influential, innovative artists, with a particular focus on practitioners from the Middle East, Asia and Africa. These capsule shows are collaborative and curated in dialogue with the artists. The exhibitions by Seher Shah and Randhir Singh, Hemali Bhuta and Farah Al Qasimi succeed the inaugural set of Artist’s Rooms, which featured works by Saudi Arabia’s most renowned female artist Maha Malluh, the late Pakistani influential artist, teacher and women’s rights activist Lala Rukh and Lebanese-Syrian video and textile artist Mounira Al Solh.

Japanese artist Chiharu Shiota’s commissioned, site-specific installation was originally set to end in May; following numerous requests from the public, this highly popular Artist’s Room has been extended through September 2019.

‘Crude’, the exhibition featuring 17 artists and collectives, curated by Murtaza Vali, and exploring oil as an agent of social, cultural and economic transformation across the Middle East, continues through March 30, with multiple talks and film screenings marking its final week.

Antonia Carver, Director of Art Jameel, commented, “Hemali Bhuta, Farah Al Qasimi, and Seher Shah and Randhir Singh are incredibly exciting, compelling artists – in totally divergent ways, they all explore transformative change – whether through society, the material or built environment. These three new exhibitions at Jameel Arts Centre represent the artists’ first regional solo shows in an institutional context, and we’re delighted to have worked so closely with them to realise their Artist’s Rooms.”

Multidisciplinary artist Hemali Bhuta’s work draws on her personal experiences, memories and philosophies, and articulates themes of belonging, security, individuality and change. Taking the Art Jameel Collection work Fold as a starting point, Hemali is creating a multi-sensory room that incorporates textiles, reworked carpets, henna and spices, and that investigates in-between and transitory spaces.

Farah Al Qasimi’s Artist’s Room includes portraits taken over the past four years, plus new images that range from the intimacy of domestic interiors to vibrant public spaces of leisure and consumption, developed for this show. The New York- and Dubai-based photographic artist presents a personal, fractured and hallucinatory portrait of life in the UAE.

New Delhi-based Seher Shah’s drawings, prints and sculptures explore ideas around space, objects and aesthetics. Shah’s Artist’s Room features two major works, a three-part graphite drawing, Emergent Structures: Relative noise, Planar landscape and Capital mass, plus Studies in form, a collaborative body of work that dwells on brutalist architectural forms and comprises around 120 drawings, prints and photographs, made in collaboration with photographer Randhir Singh.

Entrance to Jameel Arts Centre is free and open to all. The Jameel’s public programme includes children’s and family workshops, curator-led tours, artist’s talks, reading groups and discussions, plus the Jameel Library.