Catastrophe: Empire, displacement issues at Bady Dalloul’s Jameel Arts Centre show

Art Jameel, the organisation that supports artists and creative communities, presents ‘Self-portrait with a cat I don’t have’, the first institutional solo exhibition in the UAE by multimedia artist Bady Dalloul (Sept. 20 - Feb. 22, 2026).

To go live at Jameel Arts Centre, hailed as Dubai’s hub for contemporary art and ideas, the exhibition weaves autobiographical anecdotes with intimate stories of Dalloul’s life, repurposing everyday materials to explore topics of identity, migration and the intersection of personal memory and global politics.

To mark the exhibition’s opening, a public talk will take place at 4 pm on September 20 at Jameel Arts Centre, featuring the artist in conversation with Art Jameel Senior Curator Lucas Morin; independent researcher, curator and writer Mizuho Yamazaki; artist Ala Younis; and publisher/bookmaker, Ahmad Makia.

A family workshop at Jameel Arts Centre 11 am – 4 pm on September 27, is a special interactive session open for all ages that draws from Dalloul’s inventive approach to storytelling, memory and imaginative use of everyday materials.

Artwork titled King of the System.

Rooted in a nomadic practice spanning France, Japan and the UAE, Dalloul is best known for his critical approach to storytelling. His work deals with West-centric historiography, but reverses the trajectories of colonial expansion, to connect non-Western contexts outside the Eurocentric frame. Blurring fact and fiction, his creations manifest fragile heroes and ordinary lives shaped by empire, displacement and memory — often with subtle dissonance, humour and invariably, a deep sense of cultural dialogue.

Specially made for this show, Age of Empires presents a new series of 50 works on paper inspired by onmyōdō, a 19th-century Japanese astrology manual, used here to contemplate the life and death of imperial power. Through intricate drawings and layered visual cues, Dalloul reflects on how empires ascend, decline and yet leave lasting imprints on those caught in their wake. Japanese cosmological systems are interwoven with echoes from Middle Eastern and European histories, creating unexpected connections across cultures and centuries.

The Bright Woman in ink and collage on wood.

On the gallery walls, Matchboxes, a series of dozens of miniature drawings framed in matchboxes, captures everyday moments, news broadcasts and political developments witnessed by the artist over the years, many tied to his family’s native Syria. The intimate frames recall the elaborate Damascus craftsmanship of Dalloul’s upbringing, seen in games such as tawleh (backgammon) and barjis.

Other works feature vintage game cases or objects like bento boxes, repurposed by the artist to make perfect frames, their dividers creating vignettes for storytelling. Inside a recreated apartment inspired by Dalloul’s live-in studio in Dubai, visitors encounter multiple small works that retrace the last five years of his itinerant practice. The immersive installation blends the personal and the political, revealing how the artist’s daily surroundings feed into reflections on migration, cultural exchange and representation.

The colourful TV Watcher Dreams.

Curated by Art Jameel Senior Curator Lucas Morin, the title ‘Self-portrait with a cat I don’t have’ is taken from a modest self-portrait made in Tokyo, pointing to Dalloul’s recurring habit of portraying himself, or figures he identifies with, often shifting between observer and the observed. Many works created during his time in Japan are moving portraits of individuals he encountered, who offered a mirror to his own migration experience and engage with representations of Arabs and South and West Asians in Japanese popular culture. Nora Razian, Art Jameel Deputy Director and Head of Exhibitions and Programmes said: “Bady Dalloul’s work is sharply attuned to how personal trajectories are shaped — and at times upended — by global politics and history. The exhibition presents a series of meticulous works that draw on stories and characters the artist encountered in literature, on the news or in daily life.

“His practice of drawing and collage makes use of familiar everyday objects and images, repurposed with tenderness to open new conversations across cultures and geographies. Dalloul’s exhibition continues Art Jameel’s commitment to foregrounding innovative and singular practices that shed new light on our increasingly interconnected lives.” ‘Self-portrait with a cat I don’t have’ marks the second chapter in Dalloul’s nomadic ‘Land of Dreams’ exhibition series, following a debut at Mori Art Museum in Tokyo (2024–25) and preceding its presentation at Lisbon’s Centro de Arte Moderna Gulbenkian, in 2026.

Syrian-French artist Bady Dalloul.

Bady Dalloul (b. 1986) is a Syrian-French multimedia artist whose work entwines historical events, personal facts and fiction. His works are imbued with sociological and historical reflections on his heritage and issues of global migration. Reflecting on territorial demarcations, Dalloul questions Western-centric historiography and knowledge production. Through drawing, video and objects, he engages a dialogue between the imagined and the real, by questioning the logic of writing history. Solos include exhibitions at Mori Art Museum, Tokyo (2025); Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, Doha (2022); and Darat al Funun, Amman (2019). He is represented by the Dubai-based gallery, The Third Line.

Founded and supported by the Jameel family philanthropies, Art Jameel is headquartered in Saudi Arabia and the UAE, and works globally. Focused on exhibitions, commissions, research, learning and community-building, Art Jameel’s two institutions, Hayy Jameel, a complex for arts and creativity in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and Jameel Arts Centre, an institution for contemporary art and ideas in Dubai, are complemented by digital initiatives, collaborations with major institutional partners, and a network of practitioners worldwide. Jameel Arts Centre is a 10,000-square-metre, three-storey, multi-disciplinary space punctuated by seven gardens, which reflect local and global desert biomes. The Centre is located by the creek in Dubai’s Jaddaf Waterfront.