Bady Dalloul’s solo exhibition “Self‑portrait with a cat I don’t have” at Jameel Arts Centre in Dubai runs until 22 February 2026, positioning it as a key project within the city’s winter art season. Curated by Lucas Morin, the show proposes a self‑portrait that is less about physical resemblance and more about narrative construction, where invented details, gaps, and misremembered episodes form an alternative, speculative biography. The “cat I don’t have” operates as a quiet metaphor for all that is absent yet structuring: the missing objects, people, and timelines that nonetheless shape how an artist is perceived and how they perceive themselves.
Through this lens, Dalloul’s work opens onto questions of collective memory, suggesting that the self is inseparable from broader histories of migration, displacement, and representation. Layers of documents, images, and narrative fragments evoke an informal archive in which fact and fiction continually contaminate each other, echoing current debates on authorship and authenticity in contemporary art.
For Dubai, the exhibition offers a reflective counterpoint to the city’s image of relentless growth and spectacle, foregrounding vulnerability, doubt, and the instability of identity. For international audiences, it confirms Jameel Arts Centre’s role as a platform for nuanced, artist‑driven explorations of biography and memory at a moment when stories about who gets seen, heard, and remembered are more contested than ever.
About the artist
Bady Dalloul (b. 1986, Paris, France) is a Syrian-French multidisciplinary artist based in Paris. He graduated from the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris in 2015. His work has been widely recognized: in 2017 he received the Prize for Contemporary Arab Creation from the Friends of the Institut du Monde Arabe and was shortlisted for the Prix Découverte of the Amis du Palais de Tokyo, followed by the Prix des Amis de l’IMA in 2018.
Working across video, performance, drawing, writing, and found objects, Dalloul develops documentary-like projects grounded in meticulous research. His practice weaves together historical events, personal narratives, and fiction to probe political, sociological, and historical realities. Fascinated by the strategic games played by governments, often with individuals reduced to pawns, he reflects on territorial boundaries, inherited legacies, and the global dynamics of migration.
To get more information about “Self‑portrait with a cat I don’t have”, please visit the official web page of the exhibition.
In addition, you might be interested in exploring Invisible Fish by Saif Azzuz and In the Space of Becoming by Alia Hussain Lootah.
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