This week’s list of exhibitions are united by a common thread – textiles as mediums of memory, identity and power.
Handwoven artworks created in collaboration with artisans in Afghanistan, raw silk panels dyed using natural materials and royal African attire and textiles symbolising authority, the works in these exhibitions show how textiles transcend their materiality to become profound expressions of cultural narratives and personal stories.
Kings and Queens of Africa: Forms and Figures of Power at Louvre Abu Dhabi
Louvre Abu Dhabi’s Kings and Queens of Africa is entering its final week. The exhibition looks at the African continent’s most revered and powerful figures, exploring the design of their royal attire, their sacred symbols of spiritual influence and more.
The exhibition, which will showcase more than 300 objects from the collections of Musee du Quai Branly – Jacques Chirac in Paris, will introduce African kings and queens who shaped the continent and how their legacy is still influencing contemporary African art and culture. The exhibited pieces come from cultures across the continent, as well as a range of time periods and include their detailed histories.
Tuesday to Thursday, 10am-6.30pm; Friday to Sunday, 10am-8.30pm; until June 8; Louvre Abu Dhabi
Naseej: Threads of Hope at Beeah Headquarters, Sharjah
Naseej: Threads of Hope blends traditional Afghan craftsmanship with contemporary design and social advocacy. The exhibition is curated by Fatima Deemas and organised with the Fatima Bint Mohamed Bin Zayed Initiative, an enterprise dedicated to empowering underprivileged communities, especially women, in Afghanistan.
Naseej showcases nine handwoven carpets designed by regional and international artists, then woven by women artisans in Kabul using natural dyes and ethically sourced wool. Artists taking part include Emirati artists Juma Al Haj and Nasir Nasrallah, Bahraini architect and designer Sara Kanoo, Honduran-born artist Adrian Pepe and the Beirut collective Bokja.
Monday to Thursday, 10am to 5pm; Saturday and Sunday, 10am to 2pm; until June 3; Beeah Headquarters, Sharjah
Garden of Murmurs: Malik Thomas Jalil Kydd at Carbon 12
Malik Thomas Jalil Kydd’s first solo exhibition, Garden of Murmurs, at Carbon 12, presents a body of work that the Iraqi-British artist produced over the past several years. The series of large-scale works blend painting, drawing and textile art, exploring themes of introspection and the many definitions of love.
Silk has a starring role in the exhibition. Kydd uses raw silk panels that have been stitched together as his primary canvas. The silk has been dyed using natural materials such as sage. The gestural abstraction that charges the artworks has been spurred by various media, including oil, pastel, charcoal and natural dyes.
Depictions of the male figure, rendered a touch larger than life-size, a dimension Kydd refers to as “angel scale", is central to the exhibition. Through it, Kydd addresses concepts of material, identity and culture – while also coaxing a serenity from a background of destruction and death.
