magpie

LAST CHANCE Noor Al Suwaidi: The Sky Forgets, the Heart Remembers
2026-07-30 | Maraya Art Centre, Al Qasba, Sharjah
In this exhibition of a new body of work, curated by Cima Azzam, Noor Al Suwaidi approaches colour as a field of sensation where form appears and dissolves within shifting tonalities – “figures hover at the edge of abstraction; colour gathers, disperses, and returns again … allowing forms to surface briefly before receding again, like a feeling remembered but never fully named”. Alongside the paintings, monochrome marble-like sculptures introduce a contrasting presence with absence of colour to offer a quiet counterpoint to the chromatic intensity of the canvases. And the gallery itself has been tuned to suit: “deep maroon walls hold the paintings in a state of quiet intensity … the architecture of the space has been softened. Surfaces are sanded and corners eased into gentle curves. The room no longer insists on edges. Instead, it moves with a quieter rhythm that echoes the sensibility of the works themselves …”

LAST CHANCE Salmah Al Mansoori: Who I Become
2026-07-30
Rooted in her surroundings, the work of Salmah Al Mansoori, an Emirati artist from Abu Dhabi, begins with acts of noticing: fragments, residues, and overlooked materials drawn from everyday life. These are reworked into new forms that carry both personal and collective memory; handmade paper, infused with desert grasses, palm fibres, and natural pigments, holds traces of landscape and labour, while extending the life of what might otherwise disappear. Documentation gives way to transformation; what begins as an act of collecting becomes a process of reconfiguration, where materials shift, forms evolve, and associations remain open.
Curated by Cima Azzam and featuring artworks loaned by Firetti Contemporary, the presentation reflects an ongoing exploration of memory, material, and place.
