Tracing gold’s journey from Kochi to the Gulf

Welcome back to Al-Monitor Dubai.

In this year’s final edition of Al-Monitor Dubai, we spotlight Emirati and Dubai-based artists in a captivating exhibition in Kochi, India, that traces the historic gold trade between India’s Malabar coast and the Arabian Gulf, and the social and cultural exchanges it set in motion. Meanwhile in Sharjah, a poignant show at Maraya Art Center examines the heritage of tatreez, or Palestinian embroidery, as a vessel of cultural preservation and identity. And in Dubai, preparations are underway for spectacular firework displays across the emirate to ring in 2026.

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Happy reading,

Rebecca

P.S. Have feedback or tips on Dubai's culture scene? Send them my way at contactus@al-monitor.com.

1. Leading the week: ‘Like Gold’ takes Emirati artists to Kochi, India

A view of “Like Gold” exhibition in Kochi, India. (Courtesy of Rizq Art Initiative)

Taking place as a collateral event during the sixth edition of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale in the coastal town of Kochi, India, “Like Gold,” curated by Murtaza Vali, explores how gold has historically linked Kochi and India’s Malabar Coast to geographies across the Indian Ocean, particularly the glistening cities of the Arabian Gulf. The exhibition traces the shared histories and circulating journeys of gold through works by Indian artists alongside several Dubai-based and Emirati creators, including Nujoom Alghanem, Khalifa Ahmed, Dina Nazmi Korchid, Roudha Hamad, Sara D. Alahbabi and Reem Mubarak, as well as Iraqi-Canadian artist Rand Abdul Jabbar (based in Abu Dhabi) and Beirut-born, Mumbai-raised artist and educator Vikram Divecha, who is based in Dubai.

Presented by the UAE-based Rizq Art Initiative, the exhibition charts gold’s journey from antiquity through colonial eras to today, culminating in Dubai’s rise as the “City of Gold.”

“As a curator whose biography straddles the Gulf and India, I'm always looking for ways to explore their intertwined histories and cultures,” Vali told Al-Monitor. “And gold seemed like a fairly obvious one. The urban forms of many Gulf cities, especially Dubai … are anchored with a gold souk, and gold looms large in our urban landscapes as well as through advertisements for gold jewelry, many of which are actually Indian companies that rose after India's economy was liberalized in the early 1990s.”

The works on show reflect the idea of gold as both myth and material, exploring the magical dimensions of its transactional and transmutational nature. 

“As I started to do more research, I realized that there are other metaphors of gold that link the two [regions],” adds Vali. “The idea of the city of gold — of opportunity — that then draws many migrants from India and other parts of South Asia to it in search of fortune.”

The exhibition’s title stems from a Malayalam colloquialism expressing the deep care and attention, both emotional and material, that a parent bestows on a child. In this sense, gold carries a spectrum of meanings, evoking excess, success, shortfall, pride and even disappointment.

Date: Until March 31, 2026

Location: K.M. Building, Calvathy Road, Fort Kochi, Kerala

Find more information here. 

2. Word on the street: Yubi

A view of the handroll bar at Yubi in Dubai. (Courtesy of Yubi)

As the UAE’s first licensed homegrown handroll bar, Yubi channels a fusion of Tokyo street culture and hip-hop energy with upscale Dubai flair. It sits within 25 Jump Street — Downtown Dubai’s dynamic new dining destination at One Central — and is the product of a collaboration with award-winning chef Reif Othman. The sleek contemporary space serves standout handrolls. Be sure to try the spicy tuna and crispy avocado, the tuna with foie gras, the Wagyu gyoza or the ever-popular Yubi Maki.

Location: 25 Jump Street, Office Building 5, One Central, DIFC

Find more information here.

3. Dubai diary

Areen Hassan’s "Weaving The Land Back" series (2025). (Courtesy of Maraya Art Center)

• ‘SILA: All that is Left to You’

Tatreez, the traditional art of Palestinian embroidery, is a centuries-old practice that has been passed down through generations of women. It is the focus of a current exhibition at Maraya Art Center in Sharjah. Curated by Cima Azzam of Maraya Art Centre and Noor Suhail of 1971 - Design Space in collaboration with Rula Alami, Founder of Sila exhibitions, the exhibition explores how tatreez is more than decorative stitching but also a visual language of belonging, identity and resistance. Its motifs reflect village life and historical memory. Today, this crucial part of Palestinian heritage remains in the hands of refugee Palestinian women. The exhibition emphasizes how for many, tatreez offers not only income but a way to assert Palestine’s cultural identity and historical legacy, often against the threat of extinction.

The exhibition has invited contemporary artists and designers to engage with the art of tatreez through painting, sculpture, textiles and multimedia works. 

Date: Until Jan. 5, 2026

Location: Block E, 3rd Floor, Maraya Art Centre, Al Qasba, Sharjah

Find more information here.

• ‘Marks of Return’ by Salma Dib

Artist Salma Dib explores how walls, often mundane structures, serve as sites of documentation in Palestine, covered with writings, drawings and markings that reflect daily life under conflict and Israeli occupation. The exhibition presents poignant canvas works inspired by these walls, revealing them as living archives, especially in a place like Palestine, where cultural memory is under constant threat of erasure.

Date: Until Jan. 7

Location: Aisha Alabbar Gallery, Alserkal Avenue, Dubai

Find more information here.

• ‘Past of Temporal Universe’ by Ala Younis

Kuwait-born Jordanian artist Younis presents a poignant selection of works — ranging from tin soldiers and archival materials to dioramas — that reflect on intertwined personal and collective histories. Spanning two decades of her practice as both artist and researcher, the exhibition brings together archival installations, murals, mosaics, textiles and drawings centered on two core themes: modern Arab environments and modern Arab identity. Informed by her training in architecture and visual culture, Younis’s work examines the physical transformations across the Arab world and the layered histories they produce.

Date: Until Jan. 18, 2026

Location: NYUAD Art Gallery, Abu Dhabi 

Find more information here.