By A Closer Look at Art Dubai 2025
One of Middle East’s leading international art fairs – Art Dubai officially opened its doors from April 16th, 2025. Held inside Souk Madinat Jumeirah, in the backdrop of the impressive Burj Al Arab Hotel, the fair brings 120 gallerists from 65 cities and five continents. The experience of walking through such a large-scale art fair for any art enthusiast can be daunting and overwhelming. Like me you too could be gasping for navigation in this creative Eden surrounded by walls mounted with pops of colours in diverse mediums, gigantic installations recapping cultural narratives.
The fair has three distinct sections – Bawwaba — featuring gallery presentations of artworks made in the past year, specifically for the fair, Art Dubai Modern featuring presentations by the region’s modern masters and Art Dubai Digital presenting artists working with technology.
Just a few minutes into my visit – viewing, absorbing and interacting with artworks and gallery representatives it was clear that migration, belonging and identity remained common themes across several exhibits. Being displaced from your homeland, finding a footing as an immigrant, looking back at the tremors of displacement, introspecting on one’s own cultural journey seemed to resonate with contemporary creatives. In Indian artist and sibling duo, Baaraan and Moonis Ijlal’s mixed media sculpture canvases, the story of India’s partition is retold through the lens of women protagonists crossing borders. The acrylic on canvases with wooden accents present the silent narratives of women and the gendered history of migration. Titled Hostile Witness: Between Dusk and Dawn – Women, Land and Borders, the artists represented by Shrine Empire Gallery from Delhi, India, recreate forgotten buildings and fantastical creatures delving into women’s grief as they fled their homelands.
At Dubai-based Zawyeh Gallery’s booth Palestinian artists, Nabil Anani and Sliman Mansour fuse natural materials intrinsic to their land. The artists included goat leather, mud, henna and straw on their canvases. While Anani’s Exit into the Light explores rural life in Palestine by using untreated goat leather on canvas with figurines in traditional attire, Mansour uses coloured straw and clay to capture embroidery patterns found on a Thob (traditional Palestinian dress) as an ode to the Palestinian identity and traditions.
Grosvenor Gallery, London, brings artworks by two renowned Pakistani artists – Anwar Saeed and Faiza Butt — representing the male figure. For these artists the human body is a metaphor to display personal conflicts and societal boundaries. In Faiza Butt’s diptych two male portraits are shown with distinct spiritual identities. Practicing in East London, the artist says, she has witnessed the most vibrant mix of religious communities that co-exist without conflict. This balance in existence is a testimony that we are all searching for some profound answers, no matter what route we take, she says.
For the first time as many as 30 galleries are participating at the art fair. Making its debut is Gazelli Art House, with offices in London and Baku. Four contemporary artists from Azerbaijan Ulviyya Iman, Rufana Mamedova, Ramina Saadatkhan and Agil Abdullayev navigate through themes of identity, memory and the human condition to reflect on both personal and societal transformation in the south Caucasus. Ramina Saadatkhan’s vibrant canvases stand out with their bold colors and pop art themed works blending mythology, Azerbaijani heritage and philosophy through human and animal motifs.
Through the medium of paper dolls, Indian artist Sudipta Das, highlights migration – both forced and voluntary at the Latitude 28 Gallery stand. Her impressive installation with an ascending medley of handmade Hanji paper dolls capture emotions of transience that most refugees often endure.
Fans of one of India’s most iconic artists MF Hussain will get to view a curated collection of his works represented by Dag.World, showcasing the maestro’s versatile iconography. His artwork remain one of the most prized in the world, especially in the wake of a recent record breaking auction of his work, Grama Yatra at $13.8 million at Christie’s New York. Yet another legendary artist Andy Warhol’s BMW M1 Art car is on display for the first time in the Middle East at Art Dubai.
Other local and international Art Dubai commissions and installations include Mexico-based Hector Zamora’s Existence-Emitting Movements, illustrating rebirth and transformation using clay as a medium. Emirati artist Mohammad Kazem’s Directions is a digital installation in partnership with Swiss wealth manager Julius Baer, in which three walls filled with coordinates from various parts of the globe framed by a video backdrop of constantly moving waves await visitors. Common grounds by Dubai collection is curated by three Zayed University students.
Channelling, the cause of our ecosystem and environment are several interesting and thought-provoking art commissions including Ruinart Lounge by French Swiss artist, Julien Charriere. Using a 19th century lithographic process, Charriere reimagines coral reefs through pigment, sourced from locally collected limestone and crushed corals. Ouchhh Studio returns to Art Dubai this year with MotherEarth, a large scale AI driven data sculpture that transforms climate data — including air quality, CO2 emissions, humidity levels and temperature changes into a vivid sensory experience. Similarly, New York-based data artist Breakfast presents Carbon Wake, a digitally controlled Kinetic installation that transforms real-time energy data collected from cities around the world.
Art Dubai runs till April 20th, 2025.
https://www.artdubai.ae/