Arts & Culture

6 Gulf based artists portray how Eid amid Covid-19 looks like

In partnership with Dubai Festival City Mall, the Khaleeji Art Museum launched its new digital art show over the Eid break.

???????

By Sekka Team

Reconnecting by UAE based Bangladeshi artist Mohammad Faruk projected on the world’s largest permanent outdoor projection at Dubai Festival City Mall. Image: Khaleeji Art Museum.

Under the theme “Eid Amid Covid-19,” the Khaleeji Art Museum recently launched its digital art show in collaboration with Dubai Festival City Mall, this time sharing how Gulf based artists portray Eid celebrations during the pandemic.

Six artists from and residing across the Arab Gulf States have participated in Eid Amid Covid-19, a digital art show curated by the Khaleeji Art Museum that opened over the Eid Al Fitr holiday at Dubai Festival City mall, and which is projected on the world’s largest permanent outdoor projection, which is 36 floors in height.

The participating artists’ works, ranging from digital art to photography, portray how Eid is celebrated away from family and loved ones. The show was curated by Maitha Omaira, an Emirati artist and author.

“The message I am aiming to convey is that we are not alone in this, and Eid is an occasion we should celebrate regardless of the [isolated] situation,” says Maitha. “I want viewers to have a sense of relatedness to the works displayed in the show. If you are celebrating Eid with your family or are alone, remember that the whole world is celebrating it with you,” she adds.

Eid Mubarak by Bahraini artist Yara Ayoob is amongst the artworks being showcased in the Eid Amid Covid-19 art show. Image: Courtesy of Yara Ayoob.
Quarantine by Kuwaiti artist Meshail Al Faisal is amongst the artworks being showcased in the Eid Amid Covid-19 art show. Image: Courtesy of Meshail Al Faisal.

Kuwaiti artist Meshail Al Faisal’s art piece titled Quarantine, features a family wearing medical masks in their living room. This artwork highlights the reality of millions of families across the world as they celebrate Eid in isolation. 

Bahraini digital artist Yara Ayoob’s photograph, presents a comical perspective on the situation, in which the artist—the subject of her own work— is receiving an Eid monetary gift handed to her by tweezers, in attempts by the others to maintain a safe social distance. 

Other artists participating in the show include Emirati artist Mohammed Aljunaibi, Bahraini artist Leena Al Ayoobi, and Omani artist Maraj Alzadjali and UAE based Bangladeshi  artist Mohammed Faruk.

The show runs every night from 19:30 in the evening to 21:45 and will conclude on May 24th.

Fel Souq by Bahraini artist Leena Al Ayoobi projected on the world’s largest permanent outdoor projection at Dubai Festival City Mall. Image: the Khaleeji Art Museum.

Since its launch on International Museum Day in 2020, the Khaleeji Art Museum, the first digital museum that showcases and promotes the work of artists and photographers of the Arab Gulf States by hosting regular online exhibitions and galleries of their work, has held three online art exhibitions, including Khaleejis In the Time of Corona, Ramadan In Isolation, Art For Change and Enough Is Enough. It has also showcased the paintings of the late Saudi artist Zakia Abdulaziz Al Dubaikhi and the artworks of H.H. Sayyida Meyyan Shihab Al Said of Oman through dedicated digital gallery rooms. All exhibitions and galleries, are permanently available online for viewing on www.khaleejiartmuseum.com.

The collaboration between Khaleeji Art Museum and Dubai Festival City Mall, which began in February 2021, aims to shed a light on regional talents through differently themed art shows. The Eid Amid Covid-19 show is the sixth show.


The views of the authors and writers who contribute to Sekka, and the views of the interviewees who are featured in Sekka, do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of Sekka, its parent company, its owners, employees and affiliates.