The 12th edition of Made in Tashkeel is being held from 29 June to 31 August, 2022, at Dubai’s Tashkeel Studio and Gallery. The group exhibition is a celebration of the creative community’s expertise and skill to create, explore, and make.
The exhibition presents over 90 pieces of art and design works done by 42 artists from 22 countries featuring myriad mediums and multiple narratives from Tashkeel’s many members, artists-in-residence, workshop instructors, and participants as well as recent exhibitors and clients of fine-art printing and laser-cutting services. The exhibition is a snapshot of the depth and variety of artistic happening in the UAE right now. Many of the pieces on display have been made, in whole or part, using Tashkeel’s specialist equipment, artist workspaces, and facilities.
Chilean realist painter Alonsa Guevara’s oil on canvas Face of Light is an explosion of light and colour inspired by her first impressions of Dubai while walking through the city at night.
Amna Ilyas re-envisions and re-creates on plaster an impression of buried clothing that has just been discovered through her work Imprints. The Pakistan-born multidisciplinary artist currently lives and works between Dubai, Vienna, and Lahore.
Hob, done in acrylic mirror using a laser-cutting machine, is Saudi designer and calligrapher Ibraheem Khamayseh’s part of his daily Instagram experiment trying to explore the connections between the meaning and the calligraphic form.
The exhibition also has some amazing photographic works, including a series of photographs by award-winning Iraqi mixed-media artist Jehan Ali taken during her photo walks and aptly titled Clear & Salty and Rusting Seashells. The two action snapshots titled Hatched in Tashkeel by Karam Hoar, an Emirati macrophotography enthusiast, beautifully documents the survival instincts of two hungry chicks and their defending mother bird.
The exhibition also presents a group of installation works, including Frozen Blue, an epoxy resin, ink, and acrylic work by Egyptian visual artist Yousra Wahba. Her new series Splash is inspired by the versatility of resin which captures the splendid, unexpected energy and sculptural quality of the splashing liquid. “My maiden entry into this exhibition is a steep learning curve for me in terms of art forms, applied techniques, and gaining new acquaintances with other artists,” says Wahba.
For Emirati freelance photographer Shareefa Al-Hashmi, shooting flamingoes with her camera while on a photo walk at the Ras Al Khor Wildlife Sanctuary, was a gratifying experience. Her two works, Family of Twins and Fly Me to My World vividly captures a flock of these graceful birds feeding and getting airborne.
Belgian salonnière-portraitist CharLes presented portraits dedicated to two personalities who have influenced her in life. Her oil painting on antique glass title Sabah Alfoul is a portrait of Palestinian writer Adel Dajani, while her second work Jebel Hafeet, Midnight is a mosaic with glass and oil painting of HE Zaki Anwar Nusseibeh, Cultural Adviser to the President of the UAE, and Chancellor of the UAE University. She emphasized that Tashkeel has actually created a distinguished cultural complex that embraces all nationalities and cultures.
The exhibition also displays artistic works in fashion and jewellery. Palestinian artist and print designer Areen Hassan showcases her work Granada using various techniques to create silkscreen and digital prints, using aesthetic, harmonious, and abstract shapes influenced by both, historical and contemporary Islamic cultures. Also on display is the Arabesque Collection by award-winning German jewellery designer and goldsmith Lia Staehlin, her handmade collection inspired by Islamic geometry.
Established in Dubai in 2008 by Lateefa bint Maktoum, Tashkeel seeks to provide a nurturing environment for the growth of contemporary art and design rooted in the UAE with multidisciplinary studios, galleries, and work spaces located in both, Nad Al Sheba and Al Fahidi.
