Exploring Memory and Identity: Six NYUAD Artists Showcase 'Mutable Devotions' in Abu Dhabi

The aquariums rev and babble, motors circulating water despite their empty state. Their black steel frames vibrate, and their glass panes are coated with a salty residue from the receding waterline, as well as remnants of what once lived within. Two round, vertical containers stand beside the aquariums, filled with a murky liquid and large enough to hold a person. Aside from a moss-like or seaweed-like substance on the floor, they are empty. "Inside the jars are shavings of my skin," Nour Elbery explains regarding her installation. "There's a formalin inside, a preservation solution."

Elbery is one of six fine arts graduates from NYUAD presenting their works at the Rizq Art Initiative. The exhibition, titled Mutable Devotions, runs until August 31 and comprises six smaller showcases, each dedicated to an individual artist. Elbery's use of skin shavings is not intended merely for shock value; rather, it attempts to contain the uncontainable. "Each work is less a vessel for something than a vessel for the memory of holding something," she notes in her artist statement.

Her work, Setting Dressing for an Afterimage, draws inspiration from the Aquarium Grotto Garden in Zamalek, Cairo. Built in 1871 as a vanity project for Khedive Ismail, the Ottoman viceroy intended the grotto to house his collection of aquatic plants while simulating the sounds of the sea. Following the British occupation in 1882, the site was retrofitted with glass displays to house local fish and creatures, transforming it into an enclosure for life on the Nile. Today, the barren tanks are a favorite spot for young couples who draw hearts and initials on the glass.

Shaima Shamsi’s installation, Notes on Being Swallowed by a Cavity, similarly reflects historical attempts to contain and exploit the natural world. Featuring 170 uniquely colored and creased ceramic tiles arranged in a grid, the work explores the memory of land and displacement. Shamsi researched early 20th-century British geological surveys of the Gulf, including a 1908 publication by Guy Ellcock Pilgrim, which briefly mentioned the ancient Dilmun burial mounds in Bahrain. These UNESCO World Heritage sites, dating between 2200 and 1750 BCE, are highlighted by Shamsi through photographs and a suspended, fishnet-like tile installation that symbolizes ancient civilisations' enduring intelligence.

Inherited knowledge systems continue in Maha Alasker's installation, Was the Maternal Cord to my Land Cut Before I was Born?. Alasker utilizes banana peels, hair, and ceramics, alongside rust-printed patterns on the floors and walls, to create an altar-like space dedicated to womanhood and female forms.

Shifting from organic and historical themes to the digital age, Yuehan Dai’s work questions the very nature of humanity. Drawing from her background in computer science, Dai creates 'verification systems' that act as the inverse of a Turing test. Her centerpiece classroom installation features Captcha challenges and AI agents designed to determine whether a visitor is truly human.

Almaha Jaralla blends past and present within a fictional realm called Agraba. The multidisciplinary installation features billboard-sized paintings that combine Orientalist compositions with contemporary advertisements, alongside a central table of spinning coins representing the fictional currency. The installation highlights the manufactured and permanent aesthetic of contemporary Gulf architecture using stainless steel.

Finally, Tooba Shahbaz Shaikh explores the psychological and physical impacts of migration through Holding Or. Utilizing charcoal drawings, animations, and a soundscape, Shaikh tells the story of a seed traveling with a worker to a construction site, where it adapts and mutates by incorporating synthetic materials like steel and plastics into its plant-like form.