Stepping into the circle
Afra Al Dhaheri’s first institutional solo show marks a milestone moment.
By Anna Seaman
In Arabic, the work that gives its name to the title of Afra Al Dhaheri’s first institutional show—Restless Circle, open until December 14 at Sharjah Art Foundation—is a poetic concept. Dā’ira hā’ira is a rhyming expression: “dā’ira” means circle, while “hā’ira” suggests uncertainty or, metaphorically, spinning in circles.
“When you say it, it almost becomes a gesture,” Al Dhaheri says. “Because a circle that is hesitating is [still] in continuous motion, whichever way you go, you are still in a circle.” The notion of being unsure or hesitant was translated to the English word “restless”, giving the artist an opportunity to explore today’s frenetic way of life, as well as the continuous cycles in nature that inspired the work.
Restless Circle is a series of installations composed of carbon steel wires of varying heights that resemble long-stalked grass. Powered by a small motor, they move in slow, circular rhythms. The work draws inspiration from desert grasses, plants that bend, and at times break, in the wind. As they lean towards the sand, they trace delicate arcs and spirals across its surface. Eventually, the wind uproots them entirely.
“When I discovered this plant, I followed a philosophical whim,” she explains. “What does it mean? Is the plant sacrificing itself so we can understand the direction of the wind? Is it a lesson; that if we hesitate and shift directions too often, we too may be uprooted? Or is it something more hopeful, that these are the natural rhythms of life, and such movements are necessary to carry us into new experiences?”
The work was commissioned by Sharjah Art Foundation to take centre stage in the exhibition, which marks a milestone for Al Dhaheri, now recognised as a significant voice in contemporary Emirati art. The show comprises only two new pieces, while the rest of the space is dedicated to her earlier work, an ongoing practice deeply rooted in materiality and formal experimentation.
Among the highlights are large-scale installations from Give Your Weight to the Ground, her second solo show at Green Art Gallery in Dubai that opened in November 2023. These rope-based sculptures explore the relationship between material and body, but also engage symbolically with memory, identity, and time. In Al Dhaheri’s practice, rope is a symbolic material she uses to evoke hair, which she describes as a “keeper of memories,” holding time, culture, and identity. Like hair, rope has the ability to retain shape and tension; it “remembers that it was twisted,” she says, becoming a metaphor for embodied knowledge and cultural conditioning.
This body of work is composed of pieces the artist returned to after leaving them unfinished, making it, too, a meditation on time. “Give Your Weight to the Ground is an invitation to my audience to do that—to take time, to rest, to contemplate, to linger. It poses questions about the way we live our lives, and when, or if, we pause to process and learn,” she says.
Other works in the show span video and painting, underscoring the breadth of Al Dhaheri’s practice. Many are on loan from private collections, and some have never been exhibited before, having been sold directly to collectors.
Afra Al Dhaheri: Restless Circle, Gallery 6, Al Mureijah Square,
Sharjah, until December 14.
Afra Al Dhaheri, Round and round we go (2023).
Photo: Ismail Noor, courtesy of the artist and Green Art Gallery, Dubai.
