Shifting Gazes: Women Through Middle Eastern Eyes is a collective exhibition organised by the Farjam Foundation in Dubai. It explores how women from the Middle East have been portrayed and how they portray themselves over more than eight decades of artistic production. Featuring 27 works (paintings, photographs, and mixed-media pieces) by 23 artists from across the region, the exhibition draws entirely from The Farjam Collection. Curated by Amir Arvand, it will run through 15 October 2025.
The exhibition comprises four thematic sections: Identity and Visibility; Personal and Emotional Landscapes; Tradition, Modernity, and Cultural Memory; and Social Commentary and Critique. Some works question how women’s presence is made visible or obscured in the public sphere, while others turn inward to explore emotion, memory, and interiority. Several pieces bridge historical and contemporary imagery, reinterpreting traditional motifs such as Qajar portraiture or vernacular photography through a modern lens. Meanwhile, others directly confront stereotypes, probing how gender, power, and gaze are negotiated within visual culture.
Among the participating artists are Emirati photographer Farah Al Qasimi, whose vivid images highlight subtle social codes, invisible barriers, and value structures within Gulf societies and the USA, and Iranian artist Shirin Aliabadi (1973-2018), known for exploring the hybridity of Iranian youth culture and expressions of women’s empowerment. Samira Alikhanzadeh, also from Iran, employs acrylics, mirrors, and found photographs to delve into themes of memory and identity.
The featured creatives also include Moroccan artist Hassan Hajjaj and Iranian artists Bita Fayyazi and Naeemeh Kazemi. Hajjaj infuses his vibrant, pop-inflected works with the visual languages of his Moroccan heritage and London upbringing, celebrating the fluidity of identity in a globalised world. Fayyazi, whose engaged, performative practice is rooted in ceramics, sculpture, and installation, challenges traditional definitions of art in Tehran. Kazemi’s fantastical compositions, filled with flora, mythic creatures, and symbolic imagery, weave together feminism, environmental concerns, and the psychological tension of isolation.
Also on view are works by influential figures such as Hassan Sharif (1951-2016, UAE), a pioneer of conceptual art in the Middle East, and Fahrelnissa Zeid (1901-1991, Turkey), who founded the Royal National Jordanian Institute Fahrelnissa Zeid of Fine Arts in Amman, creating a space for women to explore their creative freedom. Additional art pieces by Marwan Kassab-Bachi (1934-2016, Syria), Mahmoud Mokhtar (1891-1934, Egypt), Mohamed Naghi (1888-1956, Egypt), and Jewad Selim (1919-1961, Iraq/Turkey) highlight the breadth of artistic expression across generations and geographies. Visitors can also admire artworks by Iranian artists Afsoon, Ahmad Amin Nazar, Shahrzad Changalvaee, Siamak Filizadeh, Shadi Ghadirian, Ghasem Hajizadeh, Khosrow Hassanzadeh (1963-2023), Ahmad Morshedloo, Arash Nazari, Nasser Ovissi, and Parviz Tanavoli.
To learn more about Shifting Gazes: Women Through Middle Eastern Eyes, please visit the official web page of the exhibition.
In addition, you might wish to explore the online exhibitions General Behaviour by Farah Al Qasimi and Fahrelnissa and the Institutes: Towards a Sky at the Cultural Foundation, or Caravan of Colors Through Time: A Retrospective of Mona Al Khaja.
