Artist's Rooms at Jameel Arts Centre Showcase Four Contemporary Artists Through Solo Installations

Jameel Arts Centre in Dubai presents its ongoing Artist's Rooms series, featuring solo exhibitions by four artists: Sancintya Mohini Simpson, Augustine Paredes, Amba Sayal-Bennett, and Taysir Batniji. Simpson's installation includes Vessel (iteration #5) (2024), using black clay pots to reference the kālā pani and colonial sugar cane plantations, alongside paintings like Jahajin (2021) and Ṭāpū (2022) depicting indentured labor. Paredes explores migration and identity with Lamentations (2024), incorporating Filipino weaving techniques and burned textiles, plus a portrait titled Mother (2022) of his mother Marife. Sayal-Bennett's room spans eight years of work, engaging with abstraction, technology, and colonial critiques through sculptural installations and projections. Batniji's site-specific installation Hannounn, which ended on 18 August 2024, recreated his former Gaza studio with red pencil shavings evoking memory and displacement. The series, launched in 2018, highlights talents from the Middle East, South Asia, and Africa, with previous participants including Chiharu Shiota, Larissa Sansour, Mounira Al Solh, and Lawrence Abu Hamdan. Simpson, Paredes, and Sayal-Bennett's exhibitions run until 24 November 2024, offering intimate engagements with each artist's creative process and socio-political narratives.