In the quiet expanse of Jubail Island, reachable only after a ten-minute buggy ride through gazelle habitats and sandy peninsulas framed by mangroves, a soft glow emerges at nightfall. It is not a mirage, but The Contingent Object (2025), a large-scale installation by Dubai- and Abu Dhabi-based artist Shaikha Al Mazrou.
Described by critics as one of the most breathtaking artworks at Manar Abu Dhabi 2025, the installation glows like a grounded moon, an illuminated salt pool, 30 meters in diameter, its pink surface alive with colour and texture. Constructed entirely from locally sourced salt and filled with water tinted by natural algae pigments, the piece becomes a living study of fragility and transformation. As the days pass, evaporation deepens the hue, crystals bloom, and the surface gradually shifts from fluid to solid, casting an ever-changing, luminous presence on the landscape.
At night, a subtle ring of light delineates the installation’s gentle curvature, giving it an ethereal presence amid the salt flats. Visitors describe the encounter as meditative: an experience of discovery that feels both celestial and terrestrial, invoking the quiet radiance of distant stars such as V838 Monocerotis and Najm Suhail.
Al Mazrou’s practice centres on the poetic dialogue between material and form. Known for her sculptural investigations into tension, transformation, and materiality, she continues to push the limits of how matter behaves under environmental and aesthetic forces. Her approach draws from modernist traditions while remaining firmly rooted in the ecology and visual sensibility of the Gulf region. Now 37, the artist stands among the most dynamic and important voices of her generation, redefining the relationship between land art, bio-art, and sculptural abstraction in the region.
About Manar Abu Dhabi 2025
The Contingent Object is part of the ongoing exhibition Manar Abu Dhabi 2025: A Public Light Art Exhibition, running until 4 January 2026. Organised by the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi, this second edition of Manar gathers 15 Emirati and international artists and collectives from 10 countries, presenting 23 light-based works ranging from site-specific sculptures to projections and immersive environments. Spread across four main locations (Jubail Island, Souq Al Mina, and, for the first time, Al Ain) with dedicated trails at Al Qattara and Al Jimi Oases, the exhibition foregrounds the emirate’s diverse coastlines, mangroves, and oases as integral to the experience of the art.
Curated by Artistic Director Khai Hori with curators Alia Zaal Lootah and Munira Al Sayegh, and Assistant Curator Mariam Alshehhi, this edition is shaped by the theme The Light Compass, which invites visitors to encounter light as a guide and medium rather than a pure spectacle. Like Al Mazrou’s salt circle, many works respond to the elemental forces of wind, water, and time, transforming illumination into a language of orientation and reflection. Some installations function as luminous wayfinders in the landscape. Others remain quiet and contemplative, attuned to breath, presence, and slow transformation, echoing maritime traditions such as nahma, melodic chants that once encoded winds, routes, and tides for navigation.
In this way, Manar Abu Dhabi positions light as an instrument for reflection, orientation, and shared experience, turning Abu Dhabi into a living map drawn in radiance and time.
To learn more about the exhibition, please visit its official website.
In addition, you might be interested in reading about Deliberate Pauses, another artwork by Shaikha Al Mazrou, and some beautiful public art in Abu Dhabi.
