11 Contemporary Emirati Artists To Know Artsy

The U.A.E.'s art scene is entering a moment of unusual visibility, shaped by both institutional history and recent regional disruption. Art Basel Qatar debuted in early February and drew international attention to the Gulf, while the U.S. attacks on Iran sent shock waves across the region and disrupted airline operations to Qatar and the U.A.E. Art Dubai, in turn, scaled back its mid-May edition into a smaller, more focused fair.

That present tense sits atop a deeper foundation. The Emirates Fine Arts Society in Sharjah, established in 1980, and the Abu Dhabi Cultural Foundation, founded in 1981, helped create the conditions for an earlier generation of artists to move beyond inherited forms. Among them was The Group of Five - Hassan Sharif, Mohammed Ahmed Ibrahim, Abdullah Al Saadi, Hussain Sharif, and Mohammed Kazem - who broke from traditional art and the canvas in favor of performance art, land art, and Conceptual art.

Their influence is visible in the work of younger Emirati artists now gaining international attention. Alia Zaal, born in Dubai in 1989 and based in Abu Dhabi, is known for nature-inspired paintings that return to the same subject - a tree, a mangrove, or the ghaf, the U.A.E.'s national tree - at different times of day. Her verdant canvases are less about landscape as scenery than landscape as lived memory. In 2022, she completed a residency at Maison Oscar-Claude Monet in Vétheuil, where she researched light, color, neurological perception, and eyesight.

Afra Al Dhaheri, born in Abu Dhabi in 1988 and also based there, has built an international profile after studying at Rhode Island School of Design. Her work has appeared at the Aichi Triennale, Taipei Biennial, Sharjah Art Foundation, and the third edition of the Diriyah Biennale in Riyadh. Working in glass, cotton rope, and other materials, she explores girlhood, womanhood, repetition, fragility, and tension.

Almaha Jaralla, born in Abu Dhabi in 1996, turns to family archives and old snapshots to reconstruct intimate scenes that feel half-remembered and half-lost. Her paintings often center on beach outings, indoor gatherings, and the quiet architecture of Abu Dhabi, where she was raised.

Ammar Al Attar, born in Dubai in 1981 and based in Abu Dhabi, photographs daily life across the Gulf, from prayer rooms and cafés to ordinary urban sites. Together, these artists suggest a scene that is no longer emerging in isolation, but speaking with increasing confidence to the wider art world.

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