Exploring dualities: Araya Rasdjarmrearnsook in Dubai

Welcome back to Al-Monitor Dubai.

What is the purpose of art? The question is being probed in a solo exhibition at Jameel Arts Center in Dubai featuring the work of acclaimed Thai artist Araya Rasdjarmrearnsook, tracing her artistic journey across 45 years. Also in Dubai, Sole DXB, a festival celebrating street culture, is underway.

Meanwhile, in Abu Dhabi, Emirati artist Rami Farook's first solo exhibition in the UAE capital is dedicated to his exploration of personal and collective self-care.

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Happy reading,

Rebecca

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1. Leading the week: 'The Bouquet and the Wreath'

Araya Rasdjarmrearnsook’s "The Two Planets: Van Gogh’s The Midday Sleep 1889/90 and the Thai Villagers," part of the artist’s "Village and Elsewhere" (2011) video series. (Courtesy of Araya Rasdjarmrearnsook)

The first international large-scale survey exhibition of major Thai artist Araya Rasdjarmrearnsook is taking place at Jameel Arts Center in Dubai. "The Bouquet and the Wreath" invites viewers on an artistic journey that traces the artist’s exploration of life's most profound dualities, using video installation, performance and community engagement. It juxtaposes works from different periods of her career and highlights the recurring themes that have come to define her practice. 

On view are works created over the past 45 years, shown alongside new commissions and spanning the indoor galleries, lobby and courtyard. Through installations incorporating flowers, beds and even stray dogs, visitors are invited to engage with the artist’s exploration and fascination with desire and mortality. The works raise philosophical questions such as: What is the purpose of art? What does it mean to be human? And in the artist’s own words, “I don’t need to spell out everything that I feel, do I?”

The exhibition unfolds in two parts. It debuted at MAIIAM Contemporary Art Museum in Chiang Mai, Thailand — where it opened on July 26 and runs until May 25, 2026 — before moving to Dubai for its second chapter. 

“Art Jameel has a thread within its programming where we research and highlight seminal, groundbreaking artists from across Asia and the Middle East who have been so highly influential in their own communities and societies, and often acted as one-person institutions, yet are somehow still underknown internationally,” center director Antonia Carver told Al-Monitor. “We feel we have so much in common and yet so much to learn from artists like the legendary Araya Rasdjarmrearnsook, whose solo show takes place in two locations, part of a truly collaborative exchange across borders and disciplines."

Among the exhibition's highlights is "Has Girl Lost Her Memory?" (1994/2025), an installation featuring an upturned bed surrounded by dried corn husks, one of several works in which Rasdjarmrearnsook addresses her early experiences of loss. Similarly, "Rebirth of During the Time I Grew Up, I Found an Old Picture So Sweet" (1994/2024) revisits a photograph taken at her mother’s funeral, reworked decades later to explore how certain memories fade while others become more intense.

“If art is all about giving us space and time to encounter the great diversity of ideas, stories and creative expressions that are different from our own, that spark us to think anew, to open up conversations, then Araya is art's artist,” adds Carver. 

Date: Until March 8, 2026

Location: Jameel Arts Center, Dubai

Find more information here. 

2. Word on the street: 71 Steak & Grill

Juicy lean steaks at 71 Steak & Grill. (Courtesy of 71 Steak & Grill)

Sharjah’s beloved home-grown 71 Steak & Grill, which made its debut in Dubai last year with a pop-up at Emirates Towers, is now here to stay. Its permanent Dubai home can be found at Nad Al Sheba Mall, where it serves up delicious wood-fired flavors, premium cuts, tomahawks, brisket sandwiches, slow-smoked ribs and much more. The restaurant offers a warm and stylish interior perfect for intimate gatherings with friends and family. While you can definitely indulge in the 14-hour short ribs, diners can also opt for dishes such as smoked octopus, truffle burrata and zesty fries topped with parmesan.

Locations: Nad Al Sheba Mall (Dubai), Al Zahia City Center (Sharjah)

Find more information here.

3. Dubai diary

Rami Farook, "Happiness Is Good Health, Meaningful Purpose And Love." (2025) Soft pastel on paper. (Courtesy of the artist)

• 'Self-Care' by Rami Farook

Marking Emirati artist Rami Farook’s first solo exhibition in Abu Dhabi, "Self-Care" presents around 40 works on paper spanning the last 14 years of his practice. Created in pastel, charcoal, ink and lead, the works oscillate between form and text to capture the aesthetics of vulnerability. The choice of paper as a medium is deliberate: its fragility and absorbency mean that mistakes cannot easily be undone.

Several pieces take their titles from notes and thoughts written on the artist’s bedroom wall — personal fragments, affirmations and prayers that read like entries from a private diary or public statements. Together, the works create a self-portrait of Farook that is raw, candid and vulnerable and while also reflective of the current collective psyche. The exhibition explores notions of fragility, strength, chaos and the quiet, meditative work of caring for oneself and for a wider humanity. 

Date: Until Dec. 23

Location: Iyad Qanazea Gallery, Abu Dhabi 

Find more information here.

• Sole DXB Returns for 13th edition

Dubai’s annual festival celebrating contemporary culture — spanning music, art, fashion and sport — brings together regional and international creatives and brands for a weekend of live performances, exhibitions, unique retail experiences and workshops, all rooted in the street and youth culture of the Middle East and North Africa. Three Grammy-winning headliners anchor this year’s lineup: Kaytranada, Tyla and Miguel, each bringing their signature sound to the festival’s stages. Kaytranada is known for his electronic and hip-hop fusions, Tyla for her Afrobeats-infused pop and Miguel for his R&B/soul hits.

Malian music collective Tinariwen and Indian rappers Raftaar and KR$NA will perform on Sole DXB’s opening night. South African pop star Tyla will headline on Saturday, Dec. 13, while the day’s wider lineup includes Palestinian-Jordanian pop artist Zeyne, American rapper Lil Yachty, singer-songwriter Tommy WÁ, Palestinian rappers Shabjdeed and Al Nather and English DJ Jordss.

Date: Until Dec. 14

Location: Dubai Design District (d3)

Find more information here.

• 'All that is Solid' by Gil Heitor Cortesao

Dubai’s cutting-edge contemporary art gallery, known for its trailblazing exhibitions of regional and international artists, is presenting a solo show of works by Portuguese artist Gil Heitor Cortesao. Working with oil on plexiglass, Cortesao creates dreamlike interior spaces that seem to inhabit an ethereal realm, where familiar rooms blur and then sharpen back into focus. His works hold viewers’ attention by revealing how interiors are charged with memory and perception, and how time and the act of looking can shift the appearance of a space.

Date: Until Jan. 8, 2026

Location: Carbon 12 Gallery, Unit 37, Alserkal Avenue, Dubai

Find more information here.