Blurring photography and painting
Also this week: Jun’s brings bold Asian fusion, Saif Azzuz debuts in Dubai and the literature festival returns
Welcome back to Al-Monitor Dubai.
As the new year and season get underway, Dubai’s cultural calendar reflects a city brimming with creativity and possibility. This week’s highlights include a new solo exhibition by renowned Ethiopian artist Aida Muluneh at Efie Gallery, the first Middle East solo show by Libyan Yurok artist Saif Azzuz at Lawrie Shabibi, the 18th edition of the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature, and artfully presented Asian fusion dishes at Jun’s, one of Dubai’s most talked-about upscale restaurants.
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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: ‘This Bloom I Borrow’ by Aida Muluneh
Aiida Muluneh, “The Wind Against the Shadow,” 2025. (Courtesy the artist and Efie Gallery, Dubai.)
A new series of photographs by renowned Ethiopian artist Aida Muluneh will go on show at Efie Gallery in Dubai. Marking the artist’s second solo exhibition with the gallery, the show will present over 10 works that have never been viewed by the public. Muluneh has become known for her distinctive contemporary photographs that present carefully staged photographs of painted figures in surreal backdrops.
The works for “This Bloom I Borrow” were shot in Muluneh’s studio in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, using painted backdrops and a cast of body-painted models. Every photograph was hand-finished in collaboration with artisans in the United Arab Emirates and involved silkscreen printing and hand-painting techniques, making each one a unique object that is painterly in aesthetic and texture. The works on display once again reflect her signature use of symbols, keys, masks, ancestral motifs and flowers.
“This new collection is not only a story of my own experiences, but an exploration of the merging of the digital and the physical,” Muluneh told Al-Monitor. “It began with making prints in my studio in Abidjan and continued in Dubai, where I worked with Ahmad Makary at The Workshop DxB in Alserkal to explore the possibilities of image transfer.”
Her artistic process, she explained, included painting and silkscreen printing directly onto the images, as well as introducing digital and artificial elements into the physical surface.
“These layered processes allowed me to construct a visual language capable of holding complexity, contradiction and memory. At its core, this collection is both personal and collective,” she continued. “It is rooted in my own experiences, while also bearing witness to the lives of women across Africa. For me, this collection is a love letter to photography, but it is also a reflection on what it means to be a woman seeking belonging while moving against the grain.”
Date: Jan. 17 to April 5
Location: Efie Gallery, Warehouse 61, Alserkal Avenue, Al Quoz, Dubai
Find more information here.
2. Word on the street: Jun’s
An artfully presented Asian dish at Jun’s in Dubai. (Courtesy of Jun’s)
Dubai may be saturated with Asian dining options, but newcomer Jun’s is carving out a distinct place of its own. Led by gregarious Asian Canadian chef and restaurateur Kelvin Cheung, the upscale Downtown Dubai restaurant sets itself apart with artfully presented Asian fusion dishes that balance playfulness and precision. Expect plates such as rainbow carrots or char siu short ribs, edamame hummus and elevated pani puri filled with lobster. For Dubai’s food-obsessed diners, Jun’s offers a fresh menu of inventive, flavor-forward dishes that reward curiosity.
Location: Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Boulevard, Dubai
Find more information here.
3. Dubai diary
Saif Azzuz, “Algae Bloom 2,” 2025, acrylic on canvas. (Courtesy of the Artist, Anthony Meier, Mill Valley, California, and Lawrie Shabibi, Dubai)
- ‘Invisible Fish’ by Saif Azzuz
The first solo show of Libyan Yurok artist Saif Azzuz will open next week at Lawrie Shabibi in Dubai. Titled “Invisible Fish,” the exhibition works in a variety of media created by the San Francisco-based artist, including painting, sculpture, works on paper and moving images, charting the ecological and cultural history of the Middle East region before its present urban development.
Azzuz’s work, punctuated by dreamy swathes of color applied through gestural brushstrokes on canvas, explores the land and water as vibrant, lived ecosystems rather than their often current status as extractive resources. The works on show prompt the viewer to view the beauty of marine environments as sites of ecological interdependence and memory.
Date: Jan. 17 to April 3
Location: Lawrie Shabibi, Alserkal Avenue, Dubai
Find more information here.
- Emirates Airline Literature Festival returns for 18th edition
Dubai’s acclaimed Emirates Airline Literature Festival is returning at the end of this month with a variety of engaging conversations, book launches, unforgettable stories and activities for all ages.
Some highlights not to miss this year include the talk "The Science of Love and Happiness" on Sunday, Jan. 23, from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m., where LSE behavioural psychologist Paul Dolan will explore how love and happiness intertwine and the science behind living a good life. There’s also "A Taste of India" with Asma Khan, an event during which the globally acclaimed chef and Netflix Chef’s Table star takes guests on a six-course meal journey on Jan. 24, from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. And there will be a conversation with Palestinian photo-journalist Plestia Alaqad on her debut book, “The Eyes of Gaza,” born from her lived experience in Gaza during a time of unprecedented violence and agony, on Jan. 25, from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m.
Date: Jan. 21 to 27
Location: Dubai Festival City, Dubai
Find more information here.
- ‘Remnants’ by Kais Salman
New works by abstract expressionist Syrian painter Kais Salman are on view starting from next week in the artist’s solo exhibition titled “Remnants” at Ayyam Gallery. Salman, who uses his painting as a tool for social commentary, explores memory and loss in these latest works. Highlighting fragmented imagery, the figures on his canvases emerge and then disappear within the layers of paint. His works poignantly express the idea of remnants, ruins and what is left behind from history.
Date: Jan. 17 to March 18
Location: Ayyam Gallery, Alserkal Avenue, Dubai
Find more information here.
4. Book of the week: ‘Lessons from Life’
"Lessons from Life," the latest book from his Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum — vice president, prime minister and ruler of Dubai — will be showcased at the upcoming Emirates Airline Festival of Literature at the end of this month. The book shares wisdom from his decades of leadership and focuses on how to turn challenges into opportunities, innovation and resilience. The book also charts his personal success through reflections on his life and experiences in Dubai and the United Arab Emirates.
5. View from Sharjah
A view of the 2025 Sharjah African Literature Festival at the University of Sharjah. (Courtesy of Sharjah Book Authority)
Sharjah will host the second edition of the Sharjah Festival of African Literature next week. Running from Jan. 14 to Jan. 18 at the University City of Sharjah, the festival is organized by the Sharjah Book Authority and presents a series of panel discussions, book readings and more that explore African literature from the past and present.
6. By the numbers
- Since 2008, the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature has hosted over 2,000 authors from more than 100 countries.
- In 2009, the festival hosted 65 authors, and in 2026 it will host over 200 authors.