Asma Belhamar is on a mission to chronicle UAE’s architecture

In the nineties, while growing up in Dubai, Emirati artist Asma Belhamar’s family home in Rashidiya, had an unfinished second courtyard, which became a thriving playground for the children of the house. On most days, Belhamar recollects how discarded pipes, ceramic tiles and other found objects in the vacant plot became whimsical toys, fanning the children’s imagination. Now years later, the artist has delved into her memories to curate an artistic showcase of her family courtyard, while also chronicling local architectural trends through her solo exhibition – ‘While the Window Refused to Fly and the Arch Decided to Hold the Sky’ — at Green Art Gallery, Dubai. Curated by Turkish art historian Duygu Demir, the exhibition will be on display till March 18, 2026.

Presenting sepia toned sketches of houses in the UAE, and 3D printed stoneware, clay, wood and ceramic tiles, the artist has created a nostalgic spatial project reimagining Dubai’s vintage architecture, inviting viewers to immerse themselves in the exhibits through a playful lens, while walking, sitting, standing or sliding through the reconstructed family courtyard. “My work is mostly influenced by UAE’s architecture, preserving moments, in the wake of rapid changes over the years in building style and structure. This exhibition is an attempt to spotlight how courtyards in Emirati homes were both spaces of belonging and memory, and places for imagination and play,” Belhamar tells Middle East Masala.

The artist, who lived in Ras Al Khaimah for a few years, now resides in Dubai’s Al Warqa neighbourhood. She recollected how in her childhood, open courtyards in Emirati homes were pivotal spaces for social interactions. The courtyards, she says, were the centre for family gatherings, where daily acts of cooking, resting and celebrating took place. They also symbolized human connection to nature and instilled a sense of belonging. But over the years, due to safety reasons, these courtyards in the UAE ceased to exist.

Belhamar, who works as an assistant professor in Zayed University in Dubai, has been exploring architectural elements as bearers of the past and projections into the future. Having witnessed rapid evolution of the landscape, she was inspired to chronicle minute details of homes in the UAE, be it balconies, fences, breeze blocks and courtyards. “Over the years I have been walking and cycling through neighbourhoods in Dubai, observing, researching and documenting segments of houses, through paintings and sketches,” she reveals.

The artworks created on primed canvas using acrylic capture the rhythm of light and shadows on building facades, in sun-soaked colour palettes, invoking a sense of nostalgia reminiscent of sepia-toned old family albums. Curious to view how buildings appear from moving vehicles, Belhamar also drew balustrades that appear to stretch or melt, akin to glitching cameras and dreamy flashbacks.

“Earlier houses in the UAE were constructed more consciously with sustainable materials, using coral and mud. But now they are mass produced, constructed following global architectural trends, lacking a distinct local appearance. This exhibition was a deliberate attempt to slow down, become more conscious, observe and immerse myself in details and history of the regional architecture,” tells the artist.

One of the mediums Belhamar selected to express her thoughts were ceramics and 3D printed stoneware. Blending the malleability of clay and modern technology,  she created several exquisite 3D printed pieces representing shapes and patterns. “This was an intensive and rewarding process spread across a timeline of two years. It took me months at times even to create a single piece. Several processes were involved in the entire creation including drawing, wedging,  printing, glazing and refiring,” she explains. The title of the exhibition itself was derived by blending the names of two 3D printed pieces — a set of two upturned windows and an intricately patterned arch.

Through this introspective exhibition Belhamar, urges artists, architects and even residents to observe their neighbourhoods more carefully and to make choices that honour the light, land and the community. “Writing from the perspective of a house allowed me to say things I couldn’t easily say. A  house witnesses without interaction. It absorbs the pace of life, daily movements, unfinished intentions. It’s memories rooted in its surfaces, cracks, sun bleached corners, and shadows that return at the same hour every day. This distance gave me the freedom to speak plainly about how architecture carries what we cannot always voice ourselves.”