Maha Al Mansoori's new gallery does not yet have a permanent home.
Its first exhibition exists online, with artworks viewed through digital viewing rooms rather than on gallery walls. Yet the Abu Dhabi-based entrepreneur believes the venture can help fill what she sees as a gap in the emirate's cultural landscape.
“I feel Abu Dhabi deserves to have more galleries,” Al Mansoori tells The National. “We need more openings, more exhibitions and more local gallerists.”
That ambition has taken shape in Held/Unheld, the gallery's inaugural exhibition, which brings together four artists from different countries to explore emotion and personal transformation. The show is the first step in Al Mansoori's vision for a nomadic gallery that will stage exhibitions across Abu Dhabi before eventually finding a space of its own.
The exhibition emerged during a period of uncertainty, and asks visitors to reflect on the emotions they carry through moments of disruption and change.
“The exhibition encourages people to pause and realise their feelings and emotions,” Al Mansoori says. “Some people were scared, some people didn't care, some people were worried, some people lost control. The exhibition encourages people to understand their emotions, what can be held and what can be let go.”
The exhibition's curatorial framework unfolds through four themes: Containment, Erosion, Release and Trace. Together they explore how memory, identity and emotion are preserved, transformed and remembered. Across painting, drawing and mixed-media works, the exhibition examines the tension between permanence and disappearance, restraint and liberation.
Al Mansoori says the decision behind holding the show online was driven by circumstance and fortitude.
“The only reason we chose to do it digitally this time was because there was uncertainty,” she says. “But I didn't want that to stop us. In these situations, the best thing to do is move forward. We cannot just be scared and wait for what's going to happen.”
The gallery issued an open call for artists earlier this year, receiving about 50 submissions before narrowing the selection to four participants. Studio visits, interviews and curatorial reviews followed before the works were professionally photographed and presented online.
The final exhibition features Paraguayan artist Cynthia Acuna, Bahraini Fatima Al Haddad, Filipina Jael Laura and Emirati Wadeema Al Menhali.
Despite the different backgrounds and practices of the four artists, Al Mansoori saw a common thread running through their work.
“What links them is that their work has a surreal and whimsical quality, and reflects the emotions of the artists,” she says.
Acuna's drawings are inspired by dream journals, and explore memory and emotional healing through recurring symbols, animals and imagined landscapes. Al Haddad's work combines geometric forms and human figures to examine emotion and states of mind. Laura blends everyday experiences with supernatural imagery, creating colourful works centred on hope and resilience, while Al Menhali draws on dreams, spirituality and Jungian psychology to investigate consciousness and the subconscious.
The virtual format has also provided an opportunity to engage with a new generation of collectors, many of whom are approaching art differently.
“There is an increasing number of young people who are collecting art,” Al Mansoori says. “Their interests are different from older generations.”
Among younger collectors, she has observed a growing appetite for playful and unconventional works, as well as strong support for local artists.
“They love 'happy' art,” she says. “And they love collecting Emirati artists.”
Part of that enthusiasm stems from the growing visibility of Emirati artists both locally and internationally. Al Mansoori believes today's emerging artists are progressing more quickly than previous generations thanks to the support offered by museums, cultural institutions, galleries and collector initiatives across the UAE.
“The country has created strong platforms that support artists, collectors, galleries and institutions, so the growth rate of Emirati artists is faster now,” she says.
While the gallery's first exhibition is online, its future is firmly rooted in physical experiences. Two exhibitions are already planned for Abu Dhabi later this year, and Al Mansoori hopes the project will eventually find a permanent home.
Rather than opening a conventional gallery space, however, she is interested in adapting an older building and giving it a new cultural purpose.
For now, the focus remains on introducing new artists and creating conversations through art. That, Al Mansoori says, is one of the medium's greatest strengths.
“The beautiful thing about art is that there is no answer,” she says. “There is an interpretation that differs from person to person.”
Held/Unheld is available to view upon request through the gallery's website
