Sharjah Art Foundation Debuts Collection in Kalba with 'Of Land and Water'

The Sharjah Art Foundation presents 'Of Land and Water', its first exhibition of works from the foundation's collection on Sharjah's east coast. The show runs from 17 October 2025 to 31 May 2026 at the Kalba Ice Factory in Kalba. Curated by Jiwon Lee, Head of Curatorial, along with Abdulla Aljanahi, Amal Al Ali, Souraya Kreidieh, and Shahd Murshed, the exhibition features rarely seen large-scale works by nine international artists and collectives. The title derives from the Malay word 'tanah air' (land and water), referencing homeland and the archipelagic nature of the region, though the term was co-opted during Indonesia's War of Independence (1945–1949) to enforce national unity. The exhibition explores borders, statehood, and interconnected waterways. Works include Babak Afrassiabi and Nasrin Tabatabai's video 'Plate It with Silver' (2015) on spirits crossing the Strait of Hormuz; Taloi Havini's 'Beroana (shell money) IV' (2016) from Bougainville; Walid Siti's 'False Flags' (2017) and 'Phantom Land' (2017); GCC's 'Positive Pathways (+)' (2016); Nabil El Makhloufi's three paintings from 2021; Nesrine Khodr's 'Extended Sea' (2017); Marwan Rechmaoui's 'Lebanon by the Sea' (2017) and 'Monument for the Living' (2001–2008); Jompet Kuswidananto's 'Keroncong Concordia' (2019); and John Akomfrah's three-screen film 'Vertigo Sea' (2015). The exhibition juxtaposes postcolonial nation-state ambitions with the grief of displaced peoples, presenting water as both a border and a conduit.