The artists of this year’s Spectrum Photography Residency have been examining methods in image making through embodied curiosities and responses to their surroundings. The residency started with shedding the heavy reliance on technical and formal approaches to making, then started slowly pulling the centre of gravity to orbit around deriving imagery from storied physical encounters. The collective thematics that emerged have revealed personal cartographies that are marked by tensions with familiar dwellings. 

The artists excavated stories that held a mirror to themselves and others. By way of movement, spatial interrogation, and integrations with characters who emerged in their narratives, they uncovered fragments and layers that were pieced together to form artworks, held by  constant studio conversations and peer input. The exhibition displays a thoughtful exploration for ideas that balance the introductory with the iterative, all the while unveiling the artists’ quiet dedication to expand into the nuanced ways of conceptualising imagery as containers of sensorial information. Through the weaving of objects, textures, audio, along with moving and still artworks, and stepping away from a reductionist approach of singular outcome-based making, the artists have found their own rhythms in adopting ways of working that root themselves to communicate depth as opposed to spectacle. The flow of the exhibition is an invitation to share these personal maps that were drawn from each artist. 

The exhibition is open:

18. June – 1. September, 2025. Manarat Al Saadiyat, Abu Dhabi

Opening ceremony 25. June 2025

Artists: Aman Ali, Anna Jopp, Dana Al Dhaen, Fares Al Kaabi, Hessa Alzaabi, Reem Hamid, Yousif Albadi

Mentor: Moza Almatrooshi

More details here