Samar Hejazi’s solo exhibition deliberately avoids a fixed framework or definitive conclusion. Instead, it positions a set of guiding questions:
What prevails when support is destabilized?
How is meaning reconfigured as foundational systems shift?
In what ways do structures—material or internal—operate not through permanence, but through sustained resilience over time?
Rather than resolving these questions, In Circulation holds them in suspension, allowing meaning to emerge through material as a system of knowledge, not as medium.
Curated by Nadine Khoury
Smile Through the Pain explores the paradoxical use of vibrant colors by artists working under oppression, siege, war, and trauma. In these environments, art becomes a means of survival, a form of resistance, and an outlet for unspoken grief. Yet, despite the heavy subject matter, these artists gravitate towards bright, vivid hues—creating a deceptive visual optimism that contrasts with the weight of their realities.
This exhibition challenges viewers to question their initial perceptions. At first glance, the vibrant palettes may suggest joy or celebration, but upon closer inspection, the deeper narratives of pain, loss, and resilience become evident. The exhibition aims to unravel this juxtaposition, highlighting the complexity of human emotion and the role of art as both an escape and a form of silent protest.
Exhibiting artists: Basel El Maqosui, Dina Mattar, Joumana Mortada, Majd Henawi, Mohamed Abusal, Mohammed Hawajri and Shareef Sarhan.
Curated by Nadine Khoury
Rooted Echoes brings together the works of Yasmine Al Awa, Ahed Al Kathiri, and Zahra Jewanjee, who each explore memory, identity, and belonging through distinct visual languages.
Yasmine’s paintings of her grandparents’ home preserve personal spaces as vessels of remembrance. Ahed’s textile and sound works echo her grandmother’s hymns, carrying intimate memory into collective space. Zahra’s canvases, rooted in her exploration of the Ghaf tree, reflect on displacement and resilience.
Together, their works form a living archive—layering past and present, voice and silence, to show that belonging is not fixed, but always in motion.
Curated by Nadine Khoury as part of the NIKA Art Space Summer Residency (2025).
Negative S P A C E is a group exhibition curated by Nadine Khoury and Gaith Abdulla that examines the resilience and resourcefulness of artists working outside the confines of institutional representation. The exhibition brings together a diverse group of artists navigating the scarcity of creative spaces and questioning the structures that shape access, inclusion, and artistic agency. Negative S P A C E is the outcome of Engage101’s third Peer Review Program, an artist development initiative seen as a collaborative effort between Engage101 and the participating artists centered around discussion and critique between peers.
Artists: Ahed Al Kathiri, Ahed Alameri, Alina El Assadi, Amna Ilyas, Fizza Shabbir, Layla Doueidi and architect collective Salma Hani Ali & Omar AlAhmadani.
Curators: Nadine Khoury & Gaith Abdulla
In the broader study of modern Arab culture, Palestinian art is being reexamined and reclaimed as a vital part of regional history. Following the 1948 Nakba, Palestinian identity and artistic expression were fractured between those in exile and those who remained—known as the Al Dakhel artists. Despite growing up under erasure and disconnection, Al Dakhel artists have worked to reconstruct a collective memory through their art, shaped by diverse cultural influences and a deep connection to their land. Belonging explores the evolution of this identity across three generations, highlighting themes of displacement, memory, and the universal search for self.
Artists: Abed Abdi, Asad Azi, Fouad Agbaria, Ibrahim Nubani, Karim Abu Shakra, Michael Halak, Salam Shihadi
Curators: Nadine Khoury, Rula Alami, Valerie Reinhold