SHARES

Introduction: A Landscape in Motion

Set along the quiet coastline of Kalba, Of Land and Water unfolds as more than an exhibition—it becomes a meditation on everything that moves, settles, erodes, and transforms. Drawing from the Sharjah Art Foundation Collection, the show assembles large-scale works that explore how land and sea shape identity, memory, and the fragile geographies we call home.
The serene minimalism of the Kalba Ice Factory contrasts with the emotional density of the artworks, each responding to landscapes defined not by stillness but by constant negotiation.

Curatorial Vision

Curated by:

  • Jiwon Lee (Lead Curator)

  • Abdulla Aljanahi

  • Amal Al Ali

  • Souraya Kreidieh

  • Shahd Murshed

The curatorial team raises a central question:
How do borders form, and what happens when they dissolve?

The Malay term tanah air—meaning “land and water”—captures the intimacy of these two elements. Yet the exhibition shows how this intimacy has been interrupted by colonial histories, nation-building, and human displacement.

Key Works & Themes

1. Invisible Routes Across the Strait of Hormuz

Babak Afrassiabi & Nasrin Tabatabai — Plate It with Silver
A poetic mapping of the hidden rhythms that shape life across the strait—informal trade, whispered stories, and shifting maritime routes.

2. Value Before the Market

Taloi Havini — Beroana IV
Shell money from Oceania becomes a reminder of pre-capitalist systems of value rooted in community, ritual, and place.

3. Fragile Homelands

Walid Siti — Vacant Flags Series
Flags rise like vulnerable monuments—symbols of nationalism stripped to their emotional core, questioning what remains when identity is untethered.

4. Satire of Gulf Modernity

GCC — Positive Pathways (+)
A critical look at wellness rhetoric and “positive energy” culture in the Gulf, exposing the superficial language used to mask deeper social complexities.

5. Migration Between Presence and Absence

Nabil El Makhloufi — Paintings on Displacement
Figures appear as silhouettes suspended between departure and return, portraying the emotional gravity of migration.

6. The Sea as Endurance

Nesrine Khodr — Extended Sea
A quiet yet powerful reflection on endurance—physical, emotional, and maritime.

7. Lebanon’s Coastline as Archive

Marwan Rechmaoui
Through maps and sculptural studies, the artist reveals the Lebanese coastline as a palimpsest of wars, reconstruction, and forced migration.

8. Reclaiming Indonesian Histories

Jompet Kuswidananto — Keroncong Concordia
Historical fragments return through sound, costume, and performance, reconstructing narratives disrupted by colonialism.

9. Finale: The Ocean as Witness

John Akomfrah — Vertigo Sea
A monumental three-channel film that interweaves ecological collapse, migration, whaling history, and the hypnotic terror of open waters.

Conclusion: Borders That Move

Of Land and Water ultimately asks visitors to rethink belonging. As we stand between land and sea, the exhibition reminds us that identity is fluid—not a fixed point, but a tide that continually rises, retreats, and returns.
 

Exhibition Duration:

From 25 November 2024 to 10 March 2025
Kalba Ice Factory — Sharjah Art Foundation