The Iyad Qanazea Gallery in Abu Dhabi has organised In a Group Picture, a solo exhibition by Palestinian artist Inass Yassin that examines the relationship between photography, memory, and collective identity. On display until 9 July 2026, the show draws inspiration from rural Palestinian wedding photographs taken during the 1980s. Familiar images of celebration are transformed into a nuanced reflection on social history, representation, and the ways communities construct visual narratives about themselves.
For decades, wedding photography has served as one of the most important forms of vernacular image-making across the Arab world. Long before smartphones and social media, studio portraits and family photographs documented key moments in communal life, preserving memories while also shaping how individuals wished to be seen. In In a Group Picture, Yassin revisits this rich visual archive. She focuses on photos collected through years of research in Asira al-Shamaliya, a town in the northern West Bank. The artist treats these images as cultural artefacts that reveal how identity, aspiration, and belonging were staged and negotiated through the camera lens.
The exhibition explores the colourful domestic environments that frequently appeared in wedding photographs of the period. Embroidered textiles, floral arrangements, patterned wallpapers, ornamental furniture, and carefully arranged gardens become recurring visual motifs throughout the works. More than decorative details, these elements function as symbols of social values and cultural continuity. By isolating, repeating, and reinterpreting them through painting and mixed media, Yassin highlights the role these settings played in constructing a collective image of family and community.
At the same time, the show resists the temptation of nostalgia. While the artworks evoke a particular historical moment, they are less concerned with recreating the past than with questioning how it is remembered. Yassin examines photography as an active process of image-making rather than a neutral form of documentation. The photographs that inspire the exhibition become evidence of choices: where people stood, how they dressed, what objects surrounded them, and how they wished to present themselves to future viewers. Through this lens, In a Group Picture becomes an exploration of memory as a constructed and evolving phenomenon rather than a fixed historical truth.
What makes the exhibition particularly compelling is its attention to the everyday. Instead of concentrating on grand historical events, Yassin focuses on ordinary celebrations and familiar domestic settings. Yet within the seemingly modest subjects lies a complex record of social life. Wedding photos reveal aspirations, gender roles, aesthetic preferences, and forms of collective belonging. They preserve traces of a world that continues to evolve while inviting viewers to consider how images influence the stories communities tell about themselves.
Presented at the Iyad Qanazea Gallery, an institution dedicated to showcasing artists from the UAE, the Arab world, and the broader Global South, In a Group Picture contributes to ongoing conversations about cultural memory, representation, and identity in contemporary art. Through her thoughtful engagement with archives and visual history, Yassin transforms familiar photographs into sites of inquiry, revealing the power of images to preserve, shape, and sometimes reinvent collective memory. The show invites viewers to look beyond the surface of the family portrait and to consider the social worlds, aspirations, and histories embedded within every carefully composed group picture.
About the artist
Inass Yassin (b. 1973, Nablus) is a multidisciplinary artist, curator, and researcher. She studied visual arts at An-Najah National University before earning a master’s degree from the University of Southampton and later an MFA from the Maine College of Art as a Fulbright scholar.
Yassin works across painting, sculpture, installation, video, and public interventions. Her projects often investigate the cultural and urban changes that have shaped Palestinian society since the late 1980s. Through careful observation of architecture, public spaces, and everyday social rituals, she reveals the political and emotional dimensions embedded within ordinary environments. Her work often combines archival research with contemporary artistic strategies, creating connections between personal memory and broader historical processes.
Throughout her career, Yassin has demonstrated a particular interest in how images shape perceptions of place and community. Earlier projects such as The Sea is Black, Transformation, Sparkling City, and Sparkling Cities explored themes of urban development, displacement, environmental change, and the loss of shared public spaces. In these artworks, she examined the visual consequences of political and economic transformations, often focusing on the tension between memory and modernisation.
Alongside her artistic practice, Yassin has played an influential role in Palestinian cultural institutions. Between 2010 and 2017, she served as director of the Birzeit University Museum, where she developed exhibitions, educational programs, and research initiatives. More recently, she curated the acclaimed exhibition A People by the Sea at the Palestinian Museum and contributed to major projects dedicated to documenting and interpreting Palestinian visual culture.
To get more information about In A Group Picture, please visit the exhibition’s official web page.
You might also be interested in visiting Five Painters at Taymour Grahne Projects.
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