Art Dubai 2026: Rami Farook

ATHR Gallery presents In Shaa Allah 5air at Art Dubai’s Special Edition 2026 

Dubai, UAE | May 7, 2026 ATHR Gallery returns to Art Dubai with Dubai-based interdisciplinary artist and curator Rami Farook’s In Shaa Allah 5air. The solo presentation features 20 new works created over the past nine months, spanning the period immediately before and after the recent 40-day attacks on the Gulf. 

Working primarily in soft pastel on canvas and paper, alongside acrylic, oil, graphite, charcoal and spray paint, Farook continues his exploration of self and society through portraiture and landscape. The works trace a period shaped by adaptation, vigilance, uncertainty, restraint and manifestation, carrying an atmosphere where “hope for the best, prepare for the worst” becomes an underlying rhythm. 

The title In Shaa Allah 5air, first articulated in December 2025 as Farook’s phrase for the year ahead, holds layered meanings of faith, surrender, resilience, caution and humility in the face of the unknown. The works move between immediacy and deliberation: some are instinctive and emotionally charged, while others are slower, more measured and constructed. Across all of them, the act of making becomes a space for reflection, processing, detachment and meditation. 

Themes of transition, connection, responsibility, faith, family, environment, unity and balance intersect with reflections on anxiety, patience, acceptance and trust. Threads of surrealism and dark humor run throughout the presentation, functioning as gestures of processing, escape and release. 

The exhibition unfolds with a quiet and considered pace, guided by an ethos of care: to remain useful, honorable and compassionate. The booth scenography extends this dialogue through walls dressed in sand from the Gulf, introducing a material presence that anchors the works within their geographic and cultural context while subtly acknowledging recent events. Additional elements, including a steel bench with military green canvas cushioning and non-native plants grown and nurtured locally, further reflect ideas of belonging, protection and adaptation. 

In Shaa Allah 5air moves between what is felt and what is understood, tracing the self in relation to others and the shifting conditions we share. It holds uncertainty without avoidance and belief without certainty. 

Booth C1| Art Dubai | Madinat Jumeirah | May 14–17, 2026