Archives: Awarded Projects

Marvarid Qasim

This project aims to create a compelling series of artworks that celebrate the natural beauty of the UAE while highlighting the urgent need for environmental preservation. Utilizing a wide range of mediums, including oil, watercolor, digital art, and graffiti, the artworks will capture the unique essence of the UAE’s environment and reflect the profound changes […]

Datecrete Studio (Sara Farha and Khaled Shalkha)

A research-based exploration of the decline of pigeons within the urban symbolic order. This project is a functional artwork designed to be integrated into a garden, creating a circular ecological system. It features a metallic lattice combined with Datecrete, a sustainable, patent-pending material made from date pits without concrete or resin, developed by Datecrete Studio.

Swap for Good (Kathryn Legaspi)

A Dubai-based initiative that addresses the climate emergency through conscious consumption. It provides an eco-friendly alternative to traditional shopping by hosting monthly events where people can swap goods instead of buying new ones, fostering a culture of sharing, reducing waste, and building community connections.

Zahra Jewanjee

A project highlighting the historical and cultural significance of the UNESCO-protected Ghaf tree, which is vital to the desert ecosystem. Through ecological and scientific collaborations, the project explores protected habitats, flora and fauna, microbial interactions, and traditional practices, uncovering untold stories and narratives of the landscape.

Pauline Doctorelo

This project consists of a hybrid documentary film that tells the stories of everyday items mended and treasured over the years by UAE residents. By weaving together narratives of repair from everyday people, craftsmen, tailors, and artists, the film offers an antidote to the hyper-consumerist culture that contributes to today’s environmental crisis.

Fatema Al Fardan

This project addresses water scarcity and its potential impact on the future value of freshwater through the medium of clay and ceramics. It aims to provoke reflection on the balance between collective and individual needs in a future with limited resources.

Zara Mahmood

A project driven by curiosity about the atmosphere visible to the naked eye and its unseen elements. By sampling air particles in the residential neighborhood of Al Bada’a, Mahmood examines a decaying yet visually seamless sky and atmosphere over time, investigating its materiality.

Maysa Kanaan

An exploration of ancestral weaving practices from Palestine, Lebanon, and Syria, deeply connected to body, land, and community. This research project aims to map weaving practices in the region, document weavers’ oral histories and local methods, and promote slower textile systems.

Abubaker Eltom

A series of five video clips on sustainability in Arabic, covering topics such as climate change, renewable energy, environmental protection, waste management, and consumption reduction. These materials aim to raise public awareness about sustainability and encourage responsible practices.

Akari Yasuda

A creative reimagining of “plastic-eating” enzymes like PETase. This project envisions “parasitic” plastics—developed from organic lifeforms like algae and zooplankton that created oil in the Arabian Gulf over millions of years—as a subsistence-giving host to these enzymes, the “Hyper-parasite.”