The Neo Art Magazine

There is a plant in the Arabian Peninsula’s vast, windy deserts that has given up its roots. It tumbles across the sand, not knowing where it will end up, because the wind is constantly changing its mind. As it moves, it leaves behind temporary, spiraling patterns on the ground. It’s a restless, circular dance that has no purpose, goes on forever, and is exhausting. “Restless Circle,” the first institutional solo show by Emirati artist Afra Al Dhaheri, presents a strong image of cyclical exhaustion. The Sharjah Art Foundation is hosting the exhibition, which is a deep and very timely look at how tension, repetition, and time affect structures. It gives a strong diagnosis of what the artist calls “collective burnout.” Al Dhaheri’s work creates a space for radical stillness in a world where everything is always speeding up and there is always a demand to create or perform. It asks a crucial question: what happens when we stop to face the quiet, the unseen, and the unresolved?

It is a big deal that the Sharjah Art Foundation (SAF) is putting on the show. For more than ten years, SAF has been known as the best place in the area for critical and experimental contemporary art. It is a cultural powerhouse that has always supported difficult artistic practices and conversations. This show is a big deal for Afra Al Dhaheri, a key artistic voice of her generation in the United Arab Emirates. It is a big deal for her because it is a big deal for her because it is a big deal for her. However, the context is more complex, creating a significant institutional paradox. The fact that SAF exists at all is a result of the same rapid growth and “hyper-capitalism” that Al Dhaheri’s work so intelligently looks at. The Foundation’s goal of being an “advocate, catalyst, and producer of contemporary art” and moving forward with an “experimental and wide-ranging programmatic model” is closely tied to the cultural project of a nation built on speed and change. The Sharjah Art Foundation does a brave thing by commissioning and putting on an exhibition that deals with the “mental exhaustion” and “fatigue” that this very environment causes. It indicates that the regional art scene has grown up enough to look inward and encourage people to think critically about the social conditions that have made it possible for it to exist.