Randa Maddah's 'Hanging Gardens' exhibition at Tabari Artspace explores displacement and spiritual cycles
The solo exhibition 'Hanging Gardens' by Randa Maddah at Tabari Artspace in Dubai concluded on 10 October. This showcase included paintings, sketches, and notebooks exploring themes of home, belonging, and displacement. Originating from the Golan Heights and raised in a Druze community, Maddah’s background significantly shapes her artistic expression. Among her prominent pieces is 'Hanging Gardens #1,' which features a female figure alongside an angelic figure, alluding to her yearning for her homeland, as suggested by the title referencing the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. Residing in Paris now, she studied sculpture at Damascus University and etching in Jerusalem. Her previous works, such as 'Faces of Damascus' and 'Bullet on Paper,' address regional violence, with her art serving as a sanctuary amidst displacement.
Key facts
- Randa Maddah's exhibition 'Hanging Gardens' was held at Tabari Artspace in Dubai and ended on 10 October.
- Maddah is from the Golan Heights, an Israeli-occupied territory in southwestern Syria, and grew up in a Druze community.
- The exhibition featured paintings, sketches, and notebooks exploring themes of home, displacement, and spiritual cycles.
- Maddah studied sculpture at Damascus University in the early 2000s and later experimented with film, drawing, and installation.
- In 2007–08, she studied etching in Jerusalem, connecting with Arab Palestinians over shared experiences of occupation.
- Her earlier series 'Faces of Damascus' (2008) and 'Puppet Theater' (2008) comment on regional violence through haunting imagery.
- 'Bullet on Paper' (2015) is a series of black-and-white pencil drawings created in response to the 2011 war in Syria.
- Maddah currently works primarily in Paris but draws inspiration from her upbringing in Majdal Shams, Golan Heights.
Entities
Artists
- Randa Maddah
- Pieter Bruegel the Elder
- Jorge Luis Borges
- Edward Said
Institutions
- Tabari Artspace
- Damascus University
- Canvas
Locations
- Dubai
- United Arab Emirates
- Golan Heights
- Syria
- Majdal Shams
- Paris
- France
- Jerusalem
- Palestine
- Babylon
- Ecbatana
- Iran
- Damascus
- Lebanon
- Israel