Dubai: Lawrie Shabibi unveils its compelling new group exhibition, “By the Movement of All Things,” curated by Hamzeh Alfarahneh, a profound exploration of Global Majority abstraction and the ancestral knowledge embedded within non-figurative artistic practices. Featuring works by Igshaan Adams, Hamra Abbas, Diana Al-Hadid, James Webb, Bronwyn Katz, Timo Nasseri, and Moshekwa Langa, the exhibition brings together voices from South Africa, the Middle East, and beyond, creating a powerful cross-cultural dialogue rooted in gesture, memory, and lived experience.
Alfarahneh, whose curatorial practice often interrogates abstraction from non-Western perspectives, continues his research into how artists from the Global South preserve and transmit histories through non-representational forms. Rather than relying on literal imagery, these artists draw from lineage, ancestral memory, spiritual cosmologies, and embodied knowledge, allowing abstraction to function as an archive, one that is fluid, intuitive, and deeply connected to place.
Abstraction as a Living Language
The exhibition is structured around what Alfarahneh calls “structures of knowledge”, frameworks that reveal how movement, vibration, and spatial rhythms encode personal and collective histories. Here, abstraction is not defined by the absence of representation, but by the presence of deeper forms of knowing.
From Adams’ textured weavings echoing Cape Malay identity, to Katz’s sculptural explorations of land and belonging, to Nasseri’s geometric investigations inspired by Islamic pattern and cosmology, each artist engages abstraction as a living language, one that carries stories across time, bodies, and geographies.
These works ask viewers to move beyond passive observation. They invite contemplation, resonance, and introspection, acting as conduits for sensory and emotional understanding.
A Dialogue of Gestures, Memories, and Movements
The exhibition’s title, drawn from Aimé Césaire’s Notebook of a Return to My Native Land, underscores this spirit of engagement. Just as Césaire championed cultural awakening and reclamation, “By the Movement of All Things” encourages audiences to approach abstraction as an active encounter, a space where one’s own memories, cultural experiences, and embodied reactions become part of the artwork’s meaning.
Rather than offering fixed interpretations, the exhibition proposes a collective process of learning. Art becomes a site of exchange where ancestral wisdom meets contemporary exploration.
A Cross-Regional Perspective
By juxtaposing South African and Middle Eastern perspectives, the exhibition highlights surprising affinities: shared struggles, parallel histories, and resonant artistic languages that emerge across continents. The result is a nuanced understanding of Global Majority abstraction, one that refuses to be confined by Western art-historical narratives.
“By the Movement of All Things” positions abstraction as a tool for cultural continuity, a vessel for remembering, and a method of reclaiming narratives that have long been marginalized or overlooked.
A Must-See Exhibition
Running until 6 January 2026, the exhibition is a significant contribution to Dubai’s contemporary art landscape. With its intellectually rich framework and its emotionally charged artistic encounters, Lawrie Shabibi offers viewers an opportunity to reflect on how art can preserve what cannot be easily said, how gesture becomes memory, how patterns carry stories, and how abstraction connects us through the unseen movements of all things.
Photo credit: Lawrie Shabibi