Currently, Firetti Contemporary is home to We Walk on Stories, a solo exhibition by Syrian artist Khozema Al-Aaed. It presents a selection of works from his ongoing Cities series, in which cartography becomes a poetic language for exploring memory, place, and human presence. Curated by Lina Mikati, the exhibition opened on 13 February 2026 and, originally scheduled to close on 13 April, has been extended through May 2026.
Al-Aaed’s compositions do not function as conventional maps: they dissolve the familiar structures of geography. Borders, streets, and coordinates are replaced with intricate networks of lines, layered surfaces, and abstract forms that evoke pathways shaped by human movement. These artworks suggest that cities are repositories of stories, accumulated traces of lives lived, journeys taken, and histories embedded within the land.
For curator Lina Mikati, the project is also a deeply personal one. “We Walk on Stories emerges from Khozema Al-Aaed’s long-standing engagement with questions of place, displacement, and memory,” she explains. “The exhibition enters into conversation with poetry not as a point of departure, but as a parallel voice.” Mikati invokes a line by the Syrian poet and diplomat Nizar Qabbani — “I walk on the map’s paper, afraid, for on the map we are all strangers” — as a key that unlocks the emotional register of the show. Stripped of names, borders and defined routes, she notes, the works reveal what emerges when orientation is no longer physical, but deeply personal.
Materiality plays a central role in Al-Aaed’s practice. He uses elements such as iron, wood, clay, stone, and pigment to construct textured surfaces that resemble fragmented terrains or aerial views of imagined landscapes. The materials themselves carry a sense of permanence and erosion, reinforcing the idea that memory is layered and continuously reshaped over time. Through these tactile structures, the artist transforms the visual language of mapping into a more emotional and introspective form of navigation.
A particularly striking work in the exhibition is Cities #3 (Dubai) (2025), executed in iron and wood and measuring 217 × 82 cm. Composed of seven vertical panels, one for each of the United Arab Emirates, the piece reimagines the federation not as a fixed political territory but as a constellation of vessels of memory. Each panel moves beyond cartographic outline to explore identity, history and collective consciousness through layered material form. References to vernacular architecture, barjeel wind towers, the falaj irrigation systems, palm trees and Arabic coffee anchor the work in Emirati heritage while keeping it in dialogue with contemporary transformation. Embedded text becomes structural rather than descriptive, reinforcing place as lived experience.
Closer inspection of the works reveals another, quieter layer of meaning. Within the textured surfaces of pieces such as Cities #19 (2025), Al-Aaed embeds fragments of songs, lines of poetry and irregular handwriting that read more like whispers than statements. These markings do not communicate meaning directly; instead, they evoke what once existed in a place, what passed through it, what was sung there, what remains as residue. Each work in the Cities series thus carries a hidden voice, transforming the surface of the map into a site of memory and inscription.
About the artist
Khozema Al-Aaed (b. 1985, Syria) is an artist and product designer who lives and works in Dubai under the UAE’s Golden Residency for artists and creators. He studied at the Institute of Arts and Handicrafts (Damascus, 2003) and earned a BFA from the Faculty of Fine Arts at the University of Damascus in 2014. In his practice, which encompasses sculpture, installation and mixed media, he explores themes of displacement, belonging and the complex relationships between people and the places they inhabit. Drawing on personal and collective histories, the artist develops abstract cartographies that present cities as living archives: spaces where memory, identity and geography intersect. In the UAE he is represented by Firetti Contemporary.
Al-Aaed’s works have been shown in numerous exhibitions, including Abu Dhabi Art 2025; the installation We Grow Together at the Syrian Pavilion of Expo 2020 Dubai (2021); the International Contemporary Art Exhibition in Kaohsiung, Taiwan (2021); and Beirut Art Week (Lebanon, 2019). He has received several awards, including the Spring Award and the Autumn Award at the Annual Exhibition in Damascus, as well as the prize for Best Artwork Achieving the Vision of Expo Dubai (Expo 2020 Dubai).
For more information about We Walk on Stories, visit the official exhibition page.
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