Until the 2nd of April, 2023, you are invited to attend the exhibition titled An Ocean in Every Drop, which is being held at Jameel Arts Centre, the contemporary art’s hub in Dubai. “You are not a drop in the ocean. You are an ocean in every drop” is the quote taken from a poem by Rumi, which evokes not only the idea of complexity of the world but at the same time intricacy of our inner worlds.
Water is the powerful force behind our history, culture and social relations. Oceans, seas and rivers were foundation points for cities, states and empires; they are source of life, but on the other side they could be the means of escape and refuge. The idea of water being the wellspring of life is as old as our world. It is rewritten in books and retold in stories from the ancient Greeks and Egyptians, to the Bible and the Holy Quran and the indigenous tribes of America and Australia.
“This exhibition brings together works from around the globe that explore human relationships to water through myth, spirituality, folk traditions and lived experiences […] Over time, much has shifted in our understanding of water. Currently, water is in crisis; simultaneously scarce, through drought, and threateningly over-abundant, through floods and rising sea levels,” the gallery statement says.
The aim of the exhibition is to connect to a range of ideas, myths and spiritual beliefs relating to bodies of water in order to better understand the climate emergency and our approach to it.
Jameel Arts Centre presents works by: Jumana Emil Abboud, al-Istakhri, Martha Atienza, Raven Chacon, Cian Dayrit, Léuli Eshrāghi, Asunción Molinos Gordo, Abul Hisham, Candice Hopkins, Sohrab Hura, Hussein Nassereddine, Thảo Nguyên-Phan, Daniel Otero Torres, Karan Shrestha, Fatima Uzdenova, Munem Wasif.
To get more information, please visit the official webpage of the exhibition. A reading list for An Ocean in Every Drop is available online.
You might also like Fragility, solo exhibition by Pom Mullan.
