Aisha Alabbar Gallery presents Caravan of Colors Through Time: A Retrospective of Mona Al Khaja, a stunning exhibition running through 5 November 2025. It takes one on a journey through more than four decades of work by Emirati painter Mona Al Khaja, tracing the evolution of her distinctive visual language from the early 1980s to the present day.
The exhibition showcases works in watercolour and acrylic that move fluidly between abstraction and figuration. Al Khaja often draws inspiration from landscapes, architecture, and desert imagery, yet her paintings are less about literal depiction than about memory, light, and atmosphere. Her use of colour functions as an emotional register, layered through expressive brushwork and symbolic forms that evoke personal reflection and cultural belonging. The exhibited art pieces from different decades underscore the continuity of the artist’s exploration while revealing subtle shifts in tone, style, and thematic focus.
Central to Al Khaja’s practice lies a meditation on time: its passage, its layering, and its impact on lived experience. Her works reflect on how memory and identity intertwine with place, particularly the landscapes and light of the Emirates. In dialogue with the traditions of Arab modernism and infused with her own narrative sensibility, her oeuvre bridges past and present, individual recollection and collective history.
Apart from offering an opportunity to experience the full scope of Mona Al Khaja’s career, the exhibition marks an important moment in tracing the trajectory of contemporary art in the UAE. As one of its early voices, Al Khaja has helped to shape a visual culture rooted in its environment yet in dialogue with global art movements. This retrospective reaffirms her position as a seminal figure in Emirati art and invites visitors into an intimate journey of colour, memory, and form.
About the artist
Mona Al Khaja (b. 1958, Sharjah) is one of the first generation of modern artists in the UAE, who is famous for her boldly colored canvases defined by Islamic patterns and Middle-Eastern elements. She studied at the Faculty of Fine Arts at Helwan University in Cairo (Egypt) under the mentorship of Hamed Nada, Mohammed Riyadh, and Ahmed Nawar. After having graduated in 1981, she returned to the UAE, contributed to the development of the national art education curriculum and became a member of the Emirates Association of Fine Arts.
Al Khaja has showcased her creations in multiple exhibitions, including the Joint Gulf Exhibition, Hala February Festival (Kuwait City, Kuwait, 2020); Harmony: Aesthetics of Ornamentation in Emirati Heritage (solo) (Sharjah Heritage Museum, Sharjah, 2019); Kunooz Fine Art Exhibition and Auction (Bvlgari Hotel Knightsbridge, London, UK, 2015); and The Reflective Mirror (United Nations Headquarters, New York, NY, USA, 2010), among others. She has also been a consistent participant in the Emirates Fine Arts Society’s Annual Exhibition since its inception in 1980.
The artist’s contributions have been recognised with several awards, such as the Al Owais Award (1st Prize, Dubai, 2019), the L’Officiel Arab Women Award (Best Artist, Dubai, 2010), the National Olympic Committee Award (2nd Prize, Sharjah, 2005), and the Al Owais Award for Science and Innovation (Dubai, 2004). Her artworks are part of esteemed public collections, including the Dubai Collection, Museum of Modern Art Kuwait (Kuwait City, Kuwait), and the Jordan Museum (Amman, Jordan).
To learn more about Caravan of Colors Through Time, please visit the official web page of the exhibition.
Additionally, you might be interested in viewing Fahrelnissa and the Institutes: Towards a Sky, one of the online exhibitions at the Cultural Foundation.
