What does a voice leave behind when the words themselves cannot be held? For Palestinian-Emirati artist Mays Albaik, language is not only something spoken or heard. It is something carried by the body, shaped by memory, and altered as it moves between people and places.

Water carries more than life. It holds histories of movement, trade, memory, and belonging. In Qatar, where the sea has long shaped livelihoods and connections with the wider world, it also offers a powerful starting point for understanding the region’s relationship with its environment. This November, that relationship takes centre stage with the launch of Rubaiya Qatar, the country’s first contemporary art quadrennial.

At Leila Heller Gallery in Dubai, Indian contemporary artist Manish Nai invites viewers to reconsider the materials that surround them. In In Search of Material within Material, a solo exhibition bringing together works created between 2021 and 2026, discarded objects, industrial surfaces and familiar everyday materials become the starting point for an exploration of form, memory and transformation.