Sharjah Children’s Biennial

A group photo, from right to left: Dr Khalid Al Madfa, Nasir Nasrallah, Reem bin Karam, Aisha Deemas, Fatima Al Suwaidi. (Courtesy of Sharjah Children’s Biennial)

Over 1000 artworks by children aged between six and 18 will be on display at the Sharjah Children’s Biennial set to take place between December 9 and February 9. Curated by Emirati artist Nasir Nasrallah, the art works are the result of a number of workshops that were held between January and October under the theme of Questions.

The most recent of these workshops was titled 60 Seconds of Invisible Painting and was conducted as part of Abu Dhabi Art. Children participating in the workshop were given the opportunity to draw a variety of subjects, such as a child’s face, some animals and geometric figures or different shapes available in the surrounding environment through five boxes. Each of the boxes took the shape of a platform with a box equipped with a mirror on the top, allowing participants to look through it and draw inside the box. The boxes matching children’s heights carried phrases like: Draw, ask me, expressions, and pictures, among others.

Nasrallah said, “The experience itself was new to the children because it separates the senses. Usually, when we draw anything in front of us, we look at the shape and then the paper. But here we look at the shape only and leave the hand to paint alone freely. Of course, the results were not as drawings look like in reality, which is the idea behind conducting this workshop, in order to create new forms that make us contemplate artworks deeply.”

It is part of the two month biennial, which will centre around a large exhibition in Sharjah Art Museum.