Zeinab Alhashemi is an Emirati conceptual artist based in Dubai. Since graduating from Zayed University with a BA in arts and science specialising in multimedia design, she has become known for her large-scale contemporary site-specific installations. Alhashemi is fascinated with capturing the transformation of the UAE and examines the contrast and interdependence between the abstract, geometric shapes of urbanism and the organic forms associated with her country’s natural landscape. Since the days of Alhashemi’s childhood, the familiarity of traditional scenery and nature has largely been disturbed to facilitate the rise of the man-made. In her experimental installations, she searches for a new identity appropriate to the modern condition and deconstructs the viewers’ understanding of their surroundings, introducing an alternative point of view, and creating a new perception of that reality. Drawing inspiration from the natural topography of the UAE, Alhashemi experiments with a variety of materials to position the viewer over the intangible boundary between the natural and the artificial. While colour and texture make her work reminiscent of the traditional landscape, such familiarity is disturbed by the striking contrast of industrial materials that remind the viewer of human interference. Alhashemi’s work captures the essence of her homeland today, striking a delicate balance between modernism and tradition in an unexpectedly harmonious coexistence. She has participated in numerous art fairs and festivals such as Sikka Art Fair, Dubai Design Week, and Sharjah Biennial 11 and was recently commissioned by the Institute de France and the Department of Culture and Tourism (DCT) Abu Dhabi to showcase her work at the inauguration of the Louvre Abu Dhabi. Currently she is one of the artists in residence for SETI-Institute in San Francisco, and her work was featured in EXPO2020 Dubai at the Sustainable Pavilion. She also participated in Desert X in AlUla, KSA in 2022.
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