Zawyeh Gallery\’s new space in Alserkal Avenue, Dubai

Zawyeh Gallery\'s new space at Alserkal Avenue in Dubai kicks off Saturday 17 October 2020 Tensegrity by Ruba Salameh is the first exhibition hosted at the new space

Zawyeh Gallery is pleased to announce the solo exhibition of contemporary young Palestinian artist Ruba Salameh, titled Tensegrity, at the gallery’s new permanent location at Alserkal Avenue in Dubai. Opening on 17 October 2020, the exhibition explores the tension between a set of geometrical shapes and hordes of ants taking over the aesthetically pleasing canvas. In this exhibition, Salameh breaks the rules or rather breaks free from the authority of the art form. She builds concrete structures of abstract arrangements compromised of geometrical shapes using cold pastel acrylic colors and distributing the shapes carefully and minimally on the canvas. Yet, this monotonous harmony is disrupted suddenly and in a rather unexpected way. Salameh discretely introduces hordes of small chaotic ants crawling about in curiosity, assembling around the shapes as if trying to jointly carry them away. They gather in the corners as if stuck in the search of their nest or are scattering around in conflicting paths.

Zawyeh Gallery\’s new space in Alserkal Avenue, Dubai | Exhibition by Ruba Salameh

 

The artworks bring to mind the notion of resilience of an indigenous population in a situation where their own living space diminishes continuously as a result of an incessant expanding domination by colonial powers. Slowly and discretely, the indigenous population motions transform into a form of disruption in a challenge to the supremacy of the dominant power. Taking all health and safety measures, Ziad Anani, Director of Zawyeh Gallery, expects audiences to be able to attend and enjoy this unique art exhibition, a first of its kind at Alserkal Avenue for a young emerging Palestinian artist especially that this is the first exhibition at the new permanent location of the gallery at Alserkal Avenue.

Ruba Salameh is a visual artist who was born in Nazareth in 1985. She obtained both B.A (2006-10) and M.F.A in Fine Arts at Bezalel Academy for Arts and Design in Jerusalem (2012-2014). She works with a variety of mediums including painting, video and installation. Salameh questions notions of land, geographies, displacement, nationalism and in-between temporalities, in attempt for contemplating various scenarios of the daily life which in many cases lead to state of dystopia, using cynicism and irony as tools for political suspension points.