Open Studio Residency
Dubai, UAE
This summer, NIKA Project Space in Dubai hosts three UAE-based artists – Zahra Jewanjee, Yasmine Al Awa, and Ahed Al Kathiri – offering them the opportunity to develop new work within a gallery environment. While most art spaces close for the season, we’ve opened our doors to experimentation, dialogue, and public engagement. The resulting works will be presented in September at NIKA.
We look forward to welcoming visitors interested in meeting the artists and gaining insight into their creative process. If you would like to schedule a visit during the residency, please get in touch with our team at contact@nika-projects.com or via phone +971 58 550 8052.
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Zahra Quaid Jewanjee
Multidisciplinary artist and educator based in the UAE. Her practice, spanning painting, sculpture, and photography, interweaves nature and culture. Focusing on the Ghaf tree, Jewanjee explores its ecological and sociocultural roles, from symbiotic microbial relationships to its significance in UAE myths and landscapes. Her work fosters dialogue on materiality, cultural heritage, and environmental change. |
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Ahed Al Kathiri
Yemeni-born artist, resides in the UAE. Her intimate practice, spanning textiles, writing, sound, and performance, explores belonging, place, and existence. Challenging nationalist and patriarchal notions, she employs Arabic phonetics and translation, drawing from her grandmother’s voice notes and traditional hymns, to investigate breath, voice, and speech as sites of longing. |
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Yasmine Al Awa
Drawing from her Syrian roots and UAE upbringing, Al Awa’s work transforms everyday objects—chairs, tables, textiles—into vessels of fragmented memory, reflecting longing and belonging. Her fascination with material durability, rooted in her painting restoration background, informs her use of oils on linen to bridge past and present. Al Awa’s art engages with displacement and cultural nostalgia, offering a contemporary perspective on Syrian aesthetics. |
The artists were selected through our recent open call, which closed on May 10. Reviewed by a jury of distinguished professionals: Nadine Khoury (curator), Latifa Saeed (artist), and Sara Abou-Khalil (collector).
