By All the New Exhibitions in your City
The art sector in the UAE is on a roll, with a host of new exhibitions announced by several galleries in the region. From group exhibits to solo shows, calligraphy to photography expect to immerse yourself in a range of layered creative mediums in the second half of 2025. Here is the line-up of art events in the emirates:
Heritage, Memory and The Body
Artbooth Gallery, Abu Dhabi
September 18 to October 31, 2025
Heritage, Memory and The Body is a group exhibition featuring artworks of four renowned Palestinian female artists– Rania Amoudi, Dina Matar, Fatima Abu Rumi and Marwah Alnajjar. Curated by Rula Dughman, founder of Bab IdDeir Gallery, Bethlehem, the exhibition takes a closed look at identity, displacement and the female form. The artworks are filtered through an individual lens that meshes with the collective histories of the artists’ homeland, testaments to their heirlooms and quiet revolutions. While Rania Amoudi’s art is shaped by a childhood marked with constant movement, Dina Matar’s canvases celebrate traditional embroidery and her rootedness drawn from her grandmother’s dresses worn in Gaza. Fatima Abu Rumi paints with the weight of her inheritance, grounded in Galilee and Marwah Alnajjar’s portraits in gold and silver are inspired by photographs from pre-1948 Yafa.
https://www.artboothgallery.com/
I’m Never Coming Back (Aidha Badr)
Firetti Contemporary Gallery, Dubai
September 19 to November 7, 2025
Through fragmented self-portraits and recurring motifs, most notably the horse, artist Aidha Badr captures the transformation that occurs with motherhood. Exploring art through the space between a daughter and mother, the artist’s work unfolds like diary entries, capturing the tension between who she was and who she is becoming. The exhibition is curated by Oceane Sailly and Celine Azam in collaboration with Hunna Art Gallery. Hand written text and symbolic imagery trace a process of acceptance, stillness and emotional reckoning.
https://www.firetticontemporary.com/
Self-portrait with A Cat I don’t have (Bady Dalloul)
Jameel Arts Centre, Dubai
September 20, 2025 to February 22, 2026
Syrian- French artist Bady Dalloul’s first solo institutional exhibition in the UAE — Self-portrait with A Cat I Don’t Have, blends autobiographical anecdotes and stories of people he has met. Capturing fragile heroes and ordinary people, Dalloul’s artworks repurpose everyday materials including books, matchboxes, board games and magazines. The artist looks at how family stories intersect with politics. The exhibition title, takes from cues, from the artist’s modest self-portrait taken in Tokyo and his own migration experience and representation of Arabs in Japanese popular culture.
https://jameelartscentre.org/whats-on/
Bridging Generations
Sharjah Calligraphy Museum
until October 22, 2025
This exhibition traces the work of leading Emirati calligraphers, who have redefined the art form through innovative styles that balance tradition and modernity. Organised by Sharjah Museums Authority in collaboration with the Emirates Society for Arabic Calligraphy and Islamic Ornamentation, the displayed artworks include paintings with Arabic script, Bhiwani Jali and other artistic expressions celebrating Emirati culture. Also on the anvil are workshops, lectures and activities to engage the community and educate them about the art of Arabic calligraphy.
https://www.sharjahmuseums.ae/en-US/Museums/Sharjah-Calligraphy-Museum
Threads of Life by Funun Arts Group
Novotel Sharjah Expo Centre
until November 20, 2025
A tribute to creativity, cultural heritage and sustainability — Threads of Life showcases upcycled fabrics as mediums of emotional and visual narratives. Sixteen artists from various nationalities transformed discarded hotel linen into striking artistic scrolls. As UAE celebrates 2025 as the year of community, the exhibition is aligned with the theme. It brings together artists from varied backgrounds for a shared community experience bound by a common theme. At the core of the exhibition is a powerful reminder about sustainable practices that preservation is not only about protecting the past but also about creating responsibly for the future.
New Western Views (Marwan Bassiouni)
Lawrie Shabibi, Dubai
September 18 to November 5, 2025
Swiss-Egyptian-American artist and photographer Marwan Bassiouni presents series of his photographs taken from inside Mosques across Europe. The images taken between 2018 capture landscapes through the lens of lived-in Muslim presence in the contemporary West. His work explores the intersection of Islamic identity and western culture challenging perceptions of Islam by presenting mosques as integral parts of European landscape.
https://www.lawrieshabibi.com/
Personal Sea (Mahmoud El Safadi)
Gallery Isabelle, Dubai
September 18 to November 2, 2025
Lebanese artist Mahmoud El Safadi exhibits for the first time in Dubai at Gallery Isabelle, a collection of his miniature paintings on playing cards. Referencing quatorze, a card game learnt from his grandfather, El Safadi creates a visual palimpsest where personal and inherited memory converge with broader histories of struggle, surveillance and belonging.
Motherhood: An Art and Photography Exhibition
Kutubna Cultural Centre, Dubai
September 20 to November 16, 2025
Reflecting on the experience of motherhood, the power of this instinct and bond, several artists and photographers are presenting a selection of 50 images and artworks in this group exhibition at Kutubna Cultural Centre. The participating artists offer multiple perspectives on motherhood, embodying mixed emotions of affection, care, loss, hardships and love weaving together a powerful visual experience transcending borders. Featuring 29 artists and photographers from 17 countries, the participants include Emirati photographer Alia bint Sultan, Bahraini photographer Mohamed Buhasan, British artist John Railton, Indian artists Tumpa Roy Banerjee and Shrutika Gosavi among others.
Whispers of the Past
Sothebys DIFC Gallery
September 11 to November 14, 2025
Aisha Alabbar Gallery in collaboration with Sothebys Middle East brings Whispers of the Past featuring works by renowned artists Dr Najat Makki, Khalid Al Banna, Sara Al Haddad, Sara Aref Ahli and Samar Hejazi. Spanning generations, mediums and cultural perspectives the artists offer their nuanced reflections on how the past shapes both individual and collective experiences. The creatives work across painting, sculptures, textiles and glass installations with stories etched on surfaces, suspended in space and woven through patterns and repetitions.
Caravan of Colors Through Time (Mona Al Khaja)
Aisha Alabbar Gallery, Dubai
September 18 to November 5, 2025
This landmark retrospective exhibition celebrates over four decades of work by pioneering Emirati artist Mona Al Khaja, tracing her remarkable journey from her formative years studying in the faculty of Fine Arts in Cairo to her continuous exploration of abstraction, symbolism and colour. A first-generation Emirati artist, she is known for her practice that bridges personal memory and collective history, establishing a distinct visual language within Arab modernism. The exhibition highlights her watercolor and acrylic works featuring local landscapes, deserts and architecture.
Shams (Monif Ajaj)
Fann A Porter Gallery, The Workshop
September 30 to October 30, 2025
The first solo exhibition of Syrian artist Monif Ajaj at Fann A Porter gallery explores the mystical powers of nature with symbolic metaphors of sunflowers and snakes. Ajaj’s ink drawings on paper and acrylic paintings on canvas capture sunflowers found abundantly in the Dordogne region of southwest France, where he is based. The artist creates a visual dialogue with sunflowers and the snake motifs showcasing how sunflowers follow light and snakes symbolise temptation and betrayal, that can also lead to renewal and healing. The exhibition invites viewers to consider that, from within darkness lies transformation.
MESH & MAYHEM (Talal Al Najjar)
Tabari Artspace, Dubai
September 27 to October 24, 2025
Emirati artist Talal Al Najjar’s solo exhibition Mesh & Mayhem at Tabari Artspace curated by Salem AlSuwaidi explores how digital architectures and localized histories entwine to form a fragile fabric stretched across speculative futures and fractured realities. The featured works advance Al Najjar’s long-standing exploration of the relationship between the virtual and the physical. 3D modelling, printing, and animation have been central to his practice for years, but here they move to the fore. Sculptures are printed in bioplastics and then reworked by hand with industrial materials, layers of automotive paint, visceral pastes, and scorched vinyl accumulate on plastic surfaces creating forms that flicker between precision and disorder.
https://www.tabariartspace.com/
PRIX PICTET STORM
Ishara Art Foundation, Alserkal Avenue, Dubai
October 17 to December 13, 2025
The exhibition showcases images by twelve photographers shortlisted for the eleventh cycle of the Prix Pictet Storm, world’s leading award for photography and sustainability at Ishara Art Foundation. This will be the first international iteration of Prix Pictet Storm after it premieres at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London in September 2025. Storm is both a natural phenomenon and a metaphor for the unseen and relentless forces shaping our world today. The theme challenged photographers to capture the raw energy and profound consequences of these turbulent times. https://www.ishara.org/
Golden Letters – Arabic Calligraphy Workshop (Fatema Taher)
September 28, 2025 10:30 AM
Nas House, Sangha Villa, Al Barsha 1, Dubai
AVID Learning ME
Discover the beauty of Arabic calligraphy, learn traditional techniques and create a personalized keepsake, adorned with golden ink on a sustainably sourced wooden board at this hands-on workshop. Participants will be guided by artist Fatema Taher. The workshop is designed for both beginners and enthusiasts to learn Islamic calligraphy styles such as Thuluth and Diwani, use Qalam or calligraphy marker, write their initials and elevate it with gold ink.