Tashkeel offers a shoulder to Moza Al Falasi in her debut solo exhibition

Tashkeel, the art major established in Dubai in 2008 by Sheikha Lateefa bint Maktoum bin Rashid Al Maktoum, is presenting Unfolding, a solo exhibition by Emirati artist Moza Al Falasi (opening May 12 at Tashkeel’s Nad Al Sheba 1 Gallery).

It will mark the culmination of the artist’s journey with the Tashkeel Critical Practice Programme (CPP), in which she was mentored by Luisa Menano and Hanaa Bou Hamdan, developing her practice across both research and production. Launched in 2014, CPP provides UAE-based artists with sustained funding, studio access and mentorship over twelve months to push the boundaries of their practice and realise ambitious projects.

Moza’s first solo presentation explores memory, loss and the passing of time. Through her practice, she navigates life’s complexities and explores how grief reshapes our inner lives, inviting reflection on how personal and inherited experiences leave their mark on who we are. She uses photography as her primary means of documentation, alongside sound, painting, plaster and fabric, though she does not limit herself to recording the physical reality of a space. Rather, she seeks to capture its resonance. Says she: “My work is deeply rooted in the complexities of inherited grief — the sorrow passed down through generations, shaping identity in both visible and unseen ways.

Overlapping experiences.

“I explore how personal and ancestral memories become entangled with identity, weaving a tapestry of emotions that transcend time. This inquiry became more profound following the loss of my parents and, more recently, my husband, compelling me to examine grief not only as a personal experience, but as an inherited weight that alters our inner landscapes. My art has become a means to navigate both the emotions of loss and the complexities of life, revealing the deeply personal and collective experience of grief. Whether my practice serves as a form of healing or a visual documentation of grief, remains uncertain.”

Unfolding stresses that places do not cease to exist when we leave them. Quite the contrary: they continue to live within us, reshaped by memory, loss, and the passing of time. In the exhibition, Moza approaches the house not as a building to be reconstructed, but as something unstable: a field of feeling dispersed across fragments, surfaces, and echoes. Working across photography, sound, painting, plaster and fabric, she does not try to document a lost home. Instead, she traces what lingers. Textures that recall walls. Impressions pressed into soft materials. Sounds that appear and fade, much like memory itself. The approach is not about seeing from a distance, but about touching, encountering, and feeling presence in absence. What you will find here is not a finished house. It is a house that remains unresolved, fragile, yet deeply alive.

The artist at work.

Many stories emerge. Childhood, family, grief and recent loss, overlap and fold in - unfold - on themselves. Time no longer moves in a straight line. The domestic space becomes vulnerable rather than secure - fractured, layered, incomplete. The paintings of women alongside olive trees do not offer resolution, but suggest endurance. The olive tree, rooted and weathered, becomes a symbol of persistence, of continuing in the presence of absence.

Tashkeel has extended the exhibition experience beyond the gallery through an ongoing collaboration with Gerbou Restaurant, located adjacent to the gallery. For each exhibition, Gerbou’s chefs interview the exhibiting artist, drawing on their stories, materials and palette, to create a dessert (a Tashkeel Artist Special), that embodies the essence of the show. In Unfolding, Moza imagined a flavour that moves between sweetness and saltiness, reflecting the emotional landscape evoked by the exhibition. Sweetness evokes tenderness, intimacy and the comfort of memory, while salt carries the image of grief, tears, and what remains after loss. Together, the chef’s flavours that reflect the show, create something layered and unresolved, much like the afterlife of a house: a place that no longer exists in the same way, yet continues to live within us.

Moza Al Falasi is an Emirati artist.

Moza Al Falasi is a multidisciplinary artist based in Dubai, working across painting, mixed media, photography and printmaking. Her artistic journey began at a young age with a passion for painting and photography, leading her to pursue a Fine Arts degree at Zayed University. Her work explores the complexities of grief, memory and inheritance, examining how personal and collective experiences shape identity through generations. She is currently a fellow artist at the Salama bint Hamdan Emerging Artist Fellowship (SEAF) in Abu Dhabi, an ongoing programme supporting her multidisciplinary practice. She participated in the Dubai Public Art Education Programme by Art Dubai earlier in 2025. Previous residencies include the Tashkeel Critical Practice Programme(2024) and the I.E Art Project online residency (2023); they helped shape her intuitive, process-driven approach.

Tashkeel is an incubator of visual art and design and a commercial consultancy. Its incubator initiatives include Tanween, which takes a cohort of UAE-based designers through a one-year skills development programme, taking a product inspired by the UAE from concept to completion; Critical Practice, which invites visual artists to embark on a one-year skills development programme of studio practice, mentorship and training, culminating in a major solo presentation; Residencies at Tashkeel or abroad, ranging in duration and often in partnership with international partners; Make Works UAE, an online platform connecting creatives and fabricators to provide designers and artists access to the UAE manufacturing sector; Exhibitions & Fairs that highlight innovation and excellence, to grow an audience for art and design in the UAE.