SOLO SHOW of Abdalla’s work during the residency:

11 - 16 October 2022 | Gallery 1 | Cromwell Place

As if harnessing the subconscious, Maitha Abdalla’s work oscillates between the diaphanous, vibrant and surreal, and is always marked by an atmosphere of reminiscence and nostalgia. Often evolved into series articulating strong cultural narratives, her paintings and mixed media works are assemblages of memory, travel and human interactions. Informed by exchanges and experiences, her socially driven commentaries on the human condition reveal astute, intuitive observations on the world around her, in a narrative form.

The motifs of childhood permeate her work, becoming an eloquent vernacular in which she further explores the difference between the imaginary and the real; mapping the liminal space between these interconnected worlds, she plays out many questions of social and cultural identity.

Maitha Abdalla is the first Emirati artist we have welcomed to An Effort Art, her residency is supported by Abu Dhabi Music and Arts Foundation (ADMAF). She is represented by TABARI Artspace.

Abdalla’s work from her 3 month residency will be exhibited in London in October 2022.

Exhibition press release.

Emirati artist Maitha Abdalla explores dark folktales in London show.

Images shot by Phoebe Wingrove and courtesy of An Effort Art.