RAND ABDUL JABBAR
MOLDING ANEW
31 OCT – 4 DEC 2024
Lawrie Shabibi, Dubai, is pleased to present Molding Anew, Rand Abdul Jabbar's first solo exhibition at the gallery. The exhibition builds on her recent commission for Desert X Alula, where myths are born of mud and desire (2024), staging an interplay between narrative and sculpture to explore myth-making as a method of preservation and transformation. Molding Anew reflects Abdul Jabbar’s process of arriving at her mode of artistic expression, weaving ancient Mesopotamian mythology with contemporary narratives and drawing on multiple mediums to reclaim, preserve, and transform the cultural legacy of her motherland by bringing it to life anew. The design and organization of the exhibition are grounded on notions of seriality and multiplicity, inherent qualities in the work. The exhibition opens with Tracing Origins (2022), a series of foil imprints of miniature ceramic reliefs collected from Iraq by the artist’s mother. The transplanted palms and cultural motifs served as objects of childhood play and imagination, latent with meaning as they helped her construct an image of a home that was inaccessible to her, establishing her vocation of intertwining object, memory, and place.
Curated by Meitha Almazrooei
About Lawrie Shabibi
Lawrie Shabibi was founded in 2010 and opened its doors in early 2011 in Alserkal Avenue, located within the light industrial warehouse district of Al Quoz in Dubai. Following the relocation of several renowned galleries, this quickly became the hub of contemporary art in the region, and we have been a forerunner in the development of this contemporary art scene.
The gallery’s initial focus was on the practices of emerging contemporary artists from the Middle East and North Africa (the “Global South”), and in the last five years we introduced artists from other regions and generations, yet with the same focus on the “underrepresented”. A major focus remains the support of artists from the diaspora who create work in all media to explore issues such as identity, memory, history and socio-political issues specific to the diasporic experience.
(Source: https://www.lawrieshabibi.com/about/)
Opening hours: Monday – Saturday, 10am – 6pm
Address: Unit 21, Alserkal Avenue, Al-Quoz 1