Louvre AD’s Art Here 2023: the shortlisted artists

The seven artists shortlisted for the third edition of Louvre Abu Dhabi Art Here have been announced. From this group one winner will be selected to receive the Richard Mille Art Prize (and its $60,000 cash award).

The theme for this second edition of the exhibition and the prize (which will be selected from the artists on show) explores the theme of ‘Transparencies’. Curated by Maya El Khalil, the sculptures and installations featured this year employ the interplay of sunlight, shadows, and water reflections.

Apparently the organisers received “diverse submissions received from multinational artists residing in the UAE and the GCC region”, which is more or less what you’d hope for. Those selected are Alaa Tarabzouni (Saudi Arabia), Farah Behbehani (Kuwait), Hashel Al Lamki (UAE), Nabla Yahya (India/UAE), Sarah Brahim (Saudi Arabia), Sawsan Al Bahar and Bahar Al Bahar (Syria), and Zahrah Al Ghamdi (Saudi Arabia).

“Reviewing the proposals for Louvre Abu Dhabi’s third Art Here exhibition was an inspiring challenge,” said Maya El Khalil. “The jury was struck by the wealth of thought-provoking submissions that offered fresh perspectives, expanding the theme of ‘Transparencies’ in surprising ways. They work ambitiously with materials, challenge historical narratives, and invite reflection on urgent issues with local and global impact.” From our admittedly somewhat distant viewpoint it certainly looks to be a genuinely interesting group, and the selection jury is to be commended. Overall it seems in the practice of several of the artists there’s an explicit interest in reflecting tradition and place against a contemporary sensibility, which in its various public and private aspects is probably the key question for art from the region – how do we retain the best of both worlds, both culturally and ecologically?

Influenced by her training in architecture (she has an M.Arch from Pratt), Alaa Tarabzoun’s practice is concerned with context and the built environment. She has shown almost exclusively in Saudi Arabia, typically in group shows, and as a result is one of the least well known of the shortlist; but what we know of her work augers well for the Louvre AD space, given her interest in recontextualising architectural elements …

Farah Behbehani is a Kuwaiti artist and designer – and a published author: her thesis produced The Conference of the Birds (Thames and Hudson, 2009), a book based on Farid Ud-Din Attar’s 12th century Sufi allegorical poem using Jali Diwani calligraphy. In fact her practice focuses on the Arabic letter, with its layered meanings and forms, both mystical and metaphorical, and her work ranges from architectural projects and large-scale installations in wood and metal to intricate works using threading and beading.

Hashel Al Lamki is an Abu Dhabi based painter and multidisciplinary artist who is well known locally and is building a substantial reputation internationally; In paintings, sculptures, videos, and sound works, he explores spaces where different identities and landscapes converge, unpacking the relationship between humankind and their habitats in his work. He’s a SEAF alumnus, has exhibited widely in group and solo shows, and appears regularly in our Agenda listings – most recently at Tabari Artspace in Dubai.

Born and raised in the UAE, Nabla Yahya is an Indian artist whose work explores celluloid, earth and the ethereal through video, space, and text to revealing suppressed histories. She’s another whose practice stems from an architectural education, though in her case the work definitely moves into the realm of the metaphysical rather than the built context; a SEAF alumna, she has been seen in group shows locally – among them the interesting Proposals for a Memorial to Partition show at the Jameel which closed a few months ago.

Sarah Brahim could have one of the more unexpected responses to the Art Here theme. She is a visual and performance artist who trained as a professional performer, teacher, and choreographer and has developed a research-based practice that presents work rooted in experiences of the body – “how gestures of the body can voice emotion, metamorphosis, the unseen form, and the relationship to the natural world”.

Syrian siblings Sawsan and Bahar Al Bahar are artists, architects and researchers who create multidisciplinary works that move between art, design, materials research, and digital fabrication. A regular on our Agenda listings over the last few months, Sawsan happens to have two shows in the UAE at the moment – a large-scale multimedia installation with 330 printed sheets representing songs inherited from her father at Maraya, and a contribution to a group show opening next month at Firetti.

Zahrah Al Ghamdi is an assistant professor at the College of Art and Design at the University of Jeddah; she’s also an established visual and land artist, best known for site-specific installations that flow and expand across architectural structures and natural landscapes. Her practice typically explores memory and history through traditional architecture; the idea of ‘embodied memory’ affects both the medium and the way she makes art in order to show and explain issues of cultural identity, memory, and loss.