AramcoWorld Magazine Events

A Woman’s Afterlife: Gender Transformation in Ancient Egypt

2017-01-05T17:51:22.700+00:00

Sarah DeSantis / Brooklyn Museum Mummy mask of Bensuipet from Deir el-Medina, Egypt, c. 1292-1190 BCE. This yellow mask made of cartonnage, in direct contact with the mummy, altered her gender role once again. Yellow skin represented the skin of a goddess made from gold. Now, returned to her original female state, she incubated the male-created fetus, gave birth in the tomb, and lived forever in the next world as a woman.

New Middle East Galleries

2018-07-05T14:44:35.718+00:00

Penn Museum, Philadelphia
The 4,500-year-old crown jewels of a queen. One of the world's oldest drinking vessels. A baby's rattle. A school child's first writing primer. A workman's tool. The very first spreadsheet. Through these objects and more than 1,200 others, these newly renovated, reconceptualized galleries create a journey exploring how, 10,000 years ago, in the fertile crescent of the Middle East, the most transformative point in our human history was set in motion: the domestication of plants and animals and, with it, the shift from hunting and gathering to farming. Villages developed, then towns. Writing and mathematics developed for record keeping. Mesopotamian societies gave rise to the world's first cities—cities that, it turns out, were not so different from our own. These are the first in a series of gallery renovations taking place at the museum over the next several years.

Rain Room

2018-05-09T14:51:47.307+00:00

permanently sited in Al Majarrah, Sharjah, UAE
Rain Room, a site specific installation created by London-based collaborative-studio Random International, provides an immersive experience of continuous rainfall. When visitors enter the room, they are directed to navigate intuitively and carefully through the dark underground space in order to protect themselves from the downpour. As the visitors walk through the room, which uses 1,200 liters of self-cleaning, recycled water, their movements are detected by motion sensors that trigger the rainfall to pause.

Trans-Cultural Relations, Global Biographies—Islamic Art?

2019-06-25T19:08:58.729+00:00

Pergamonmuseum, Berlin
Selected artifacts currently on display in the Museum für Islamische Kunst at the Pergamonmuseum illustrate how diverse objects have migrated across continents and how, on closer inspection, shared visual motifs, forms and craft techniques reveal networks of references to other cultures that one might not at once associate with "Islamic art" today. The display thereby questions the notions of rigidly defined cultural boundaries.

Sorgente di Luce (Source of Light)

2019-07-09T17:28:25.273+00:00

Ithra, Dhahran
This 30-meter-tall installation is comprised of three bronze "trees" is a site-specific work for the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture (Ithra) by Italian artist Giuseppe Penone. The Center's largest permanent art commission, it celebrates the history, creativity and energy that lies at its core. The form of the work and its location in the Center have symbolic functions, representing the energy and growth that have followed since the discovery--not far from its site--of Dammam Well No. 7, known today as the "Prosperity Well," where oil was first discovered in commercial quantities in Saudi Arabia. The installation illustrates life springing forth from the ground and reaching toward the sky, a poetic allusion to how Saudi Arabian society has grown and flourished as a result of the discovery of natural energy in the telluric depths of the earth below that has transformed into human energy.

Dream and Trauma: Reopening of the Carpet Halls at the Museum für Islamische Kunst

2018-12-31T13:50:53.607+00:00

Pergamonmuseum, Berlin
Carpets of Islamic cultures are also integral to European cultural history. As a testimony to the ongoing exchange between Europe and the Middle East, they also form a focal point in the permanent exhibition of the Museum für Islamische Kunst (Museum of Islamic Art). By refurbishing the exhibition halls, the colorful rugs now invite visitors to experience the origins and history of the collection with all their senses. The exhibition shows some of the oldest collection pieces, from the former property of museum founder Wilhelm von Bode, up to current acquisitions.

No god but God: The Art of Islam

2019-11-19T20:30:47.758+00:00

Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide
This is the gallery's first major display of Islamic art to encompass a geographical span extending from Morocco to Australia. The display includes a range of works from the ninth century to the contemporary era. Among them are some of the earliest works of Islamic art to enter the collection, from a bequest by Sir Samuel Way in 1916, to the most recent "Portrait of Emperor Akbar," acquired more than 100 years later. The Muslim declaration of faith, interpreted in English as "There is no god but God, and Muhammad is His messenger," inspired the exhibition's title.

Mandy El-Sayegh: The Amateur and Problems with Metaphor

2019-11-19T20:25:18.899+00:00

Twin Galleries, Sursock Museum, Beirut
The practice of Malaysia-born Mandy El-Sayegh is rooted in assemblage. Executed in a wide range of media, including densely layered paintings, sculpture, installation, diagrams, as well as sound and video, El-Sayegh's works investigate the formation and breakdown of systems of order, be they bodily, linguistic or political. In this exhibition, El-Sayegh presents two new works: a video-and-audio piece "The Amateur" (2019) as well as "Problems with Metaphor" (2019), a room-sized immersive installation created on-site. On the gallery walls, El-Sayegh uses latex, layered with newspaper pages and hand mark-making.

Talking Maps

2019-07-25T15:44:42.000+00:00

Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford
This new exhibition celebrates maps and the stories they tell about the places they show and the people who make and use them, showcasing iconic treasures from the Bodleian's world-renowned collection of more than 1.5 million maps, together with exciting new works on loan and specially commissioned 3-D installations. Featuring "imaginary maps" such as Grayson Perry's "Red Carpet" and "Map of Nowhere," and J. R. R. Tolkien's maps of Middle Earth, the exhibition offers a new perspective on the enduring power of maps.

I Am... Contemporary Women Artists of Africa

2019-07-29T19:04:36.853+00:00

National Museum of African Art, Washington, D. C.
Taking its name from a 1970s feminist anthem, this exhibition draws upon a selection of artworks by women artists from the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art's permanent collection to reveal a more contemporary feminism that recognizes the contributions of women to the most pressing issues of their times. With experimental and sophisticated use of diverse media, the 28 featured artists offer insightful and visually stunning approaches to matters of community, faith, the environment, politics, colonial encounters, racism, identity and more.

Queen Nefertari: Eternal Egypt

2019-12-06T14:42:44.835+00:00

Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri
Discover the celebrated Queen Nefertari, the Great Royal Wife of Pharaoh Ramesses II. Experience the magnificence of royal palaces and tombs, including Nefertari's burial chamber, considered one of the greatest artistic achievements in the Valley of the Queens. Explore the daily life of the village where tomb builders and artists lived, worked and worshiped more than 3,000 years ago.

Graffiti as Devotion along the Nile: El-Kurru, Sudan

2019-12-06T14:54:53.835+00:00

Kelsey Museum of Archaeology, Ann Arbor, Michigan
Ancient graffiti provides a unique glimpse into the lives of individuals in antiquity. Religious devotion in Kush (a region located in modern-day northern Sudan), involved pilgrimage and leaving informal marks on temples, pyramids and other monumental structures. Graffiti is found in temples throughout the Meroitic period of Kush, when it bordered Roman Egypt. They represent one of the few direct traces of the devotional practices of private people in Kush and hint at individual thoughts, values and daily lives. This exhibition explores the times and places where Kushite graffiti was inscribed through photos, texts and interactive media presentations, with recently discovered in a rock-cut temple by the Kelsey expedition to the region.

Calligraphy: A New Addition to the Permanent Galleries

2018-10-02T13:54:55.178+00:00

Cartwright Hall Art Gallery, Bradford, UK
A new case demonstrates the versatility of Islamic calligraphy and its use in ceremonial and secular objects. Among others, the stunning objects include a blue pot from 12th-century Kashan, Persia, and an official seal from the court of 17th-century Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan of India. Made from materials including brass, bronze, ceramic, silver, wood, bone and steel, they originate from countries including Turkey, India and Pakistan.

Jeddah Arts 21,39: I Love You, Urgently

2020-01-23T18:49:53.271+00:00

The Saudi Art Council and al-Balad, Jiddah
At a time when Saudi Arabia is undergoing a rapid transformation, the seventh edition of 21,39 asks local and international artists, architects, designers and thinkers to seek out tangible solutions and to formulate alternative and symbiotic ways to inhabit our planet. The title of this edition is an unexpected address, as it departs from scientific vernacular to emphasize the highly personal dynamics amid which we are living today. Through exhibitions, commissions and a series of dialogs, talks and debates taking place in the gallery spaces of the Saudi Art Council and in al-Balad, the historic city center of Jiddah, participants are invited to address ideas of biomimicry, the imitation of the models, systems and elements of nature for the purpose of solving complex human problems; of adaptability; and of specificity, how to think of alternative and symbiotic ways to inhabit our planet from local contexts.

Forgotten Masters: Indian Painting for the East India Company

2020-02-05T19:13:19.531+00:00

The Wallace Collection, London
This is the first UK exhibition of works by Indian master painters commissioned by East India Company officials in the late 18th and 19th centuries. It is an unprecedented opportunity to see these vivid and highly original paintings together for the first time, recognizing them as among the greatest masterpieces of Indian painting. The exhibition of historically overlooked artists includes Shaikh Zain ud-Din, Bhawani Das, Shaikh Mohammad Amir of Karriah, Sita Ram and Gulam Ali Kham, shedding light on a largely forgotten moment in Anglo-Indian history. Reflecting both the beauty of the natural world and the social reality of time, these artworks offer a rare glimpse of the cultural fusion between British and Indian artistic styles during this period.

Tutankhamun: Treasures of the Golden Pharaoh

2019-11-12T17:24:33.214+00:00

Saatchi Gallery, London
This exhibition commemorates the 100th anniversary of the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb, and it represents a final opportunity to see these glittering world heritage artifacts outside of Egypt. The exhibition explores the life of King Tutankhamun and the storied discovery that captivated the world, through more than 150 authentic pieces from the tomb—three times the quantity that has traveled in previous exhibitions—more than 60 of which are traveling outside of Egypt for the first time. After the close of the exhibition in London, it is scheduled to show in Sydney, Australia.

Radical Revisionists: Contemporary African Artists Confronting Past and Present

2020-02-03T16:53:00.948+00:00

Moody Center for the Arts, Rice University, Houston
In this exhibit, artists from diverse parts of Africa and its diaspora challenge Eurocentric tropes of race, representation and colonial narratives. They address the erasures of histories and the ways in which artists reinterpret familiar themes through lenses that are both contemporary and Afrocentric. Photography, mixed media, virtual reality, sculpture and a site-specific installation all illuminate the ways outside interventions, over centuries, have deeply affected both land and peoples.

A Wonder to Behold: Craftsmanship and the Creation of Babylon's Ishtar Gate

2020-01-23T18:55:54.497+00:00

Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, New York
This exhibition explores ancient ideas about craftsmanship and the power of clay, glass and stone through the display of the surviving fragments of Babylon's iconic Ishtar Gate and Processional Way. Featuring close to 150 brightly colored large and small scale artworks from across the ancient Near East, together with raw materials in a variety of stages of workmanship, the exhibition considers the creation of sacred spaces and objects, including monuments, divine statues, items of personal adornment and more. Representing the culmination of centuries of religious thought, technological discoveries and artistic innovations from across the ancient Near East, Babylon's Ishtar Gate, commissioned by Nebuchadnezzar II in the sixth century BCE, testifies to the transformative powers of materials and making.

Rina Banerjee: Make Me a Summary of the World

2020-01-16T15:21:07.802+00:00

Fowler Museum of University of California Los Angeles
This exhibit brings together several of Kolkata-born US artist Banerjee's monumental installations in conversation with more than two dozen sculptures, as well as a thorough selection of works on paper to create an otherworldly and multisensory space. Using a variety of gathered materials ranging from African jewelry to colorful feathers, light bulbs and Murano glass, Banerjee's works investigate the splintered experiences of identity, tradition and culture prevalent in diasporic communities. These sensuous assemblages present themselves simultaneously as familiar and unfamiliar, thriving on tensions between visual cultures and raising questions about exoticism, cultural appropriation, globalization and feminism.

Clay: Modeling African Design

2020-01-16T15:16:22.622+00:00

Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, Massachusetts
This exhibition highlights artistic innovation and creativity in Africa as seen primarily through the traditions of ceramic arts from across the continent and over its long history. Countering the assumption that African arts and societies are largely unchanging and bound to traditions and customs, the diversity of objects and styles on display here tells a very different story. The unique malleability and plasticity of clay, as well as its prominent use in global art contexts, make it ideal for exploring not only African art forms and esthetics in particular, but also broader questions of design, with clay embodying the notion of transformation, a material property relating directly to the many design possibilities inherent in clay and representing important values in Africa.

The Turkmen Storage Bag

2020-01-30T16:11:22.511+00:00

de Young Museum, San Francisco
This small, focused exhibition showcases approximately nine storage bags representing five subgroups, taking advantage of the intimate space in the T. B. Walker Textile Education Gallery to present a refined selection of the finest examples of these portable storage bags. It also highlights the similarities and differences between the different groups' weaving techniques and rendition of the gül (flower) motif. The exhibition serves as an introduction of the varying styles to novices, while appealing to connoisseurs with prime examples both from different subgroups and from Bay Area collectors.

Assyria: Palace Art of Ancient Iraq

2019-11-20T20:01:57.772+00:00

The Getty Villa, Pacific Palisades, California
Assyrian kings in the ninth to seventh centuries BCE decorated their palaces with masterful relief sculptures that represent a high point of Mesopotamian art, both for their artistic quality and sophistication as well as the vivid depictions of warfare, rituals, mythology, hunting and other aspects of Assyrian court life. The importance of these ancient treasures has only increased with the recent destructions of reliefs that remain in Iraq.

A Century in Flux: Highlights from the Barjeel Art Foundation

2018-12-17T20:28:16.077+00:00

Sharjah Art Museum, UAE
This long-term exhibition features a selection of key modernist paintings, sculptures and mixed media artworks from the Barjeel Art Foundation collection, known for its inclusion of significant 20th-century art from across the region. The exhibition covers a century of artistic production in the Arab region and its diaspora, beginning from the late 19th century to the late 20th century.

Caravans of Gold, Fragments in Time: Art, Culture and Exchange across Medieval Saharan Africa

2019-06-25T17:18:53.543+00:00

Bioconical bead, Egypt or Syria, 10th–11th century. Gold; filigree, granulation, "rope" wire.

September 21, 2019 through February 23, 2020

Set up as journey along the Sahara's trade routes during a time when West African gold connected peoples and cultures, arts and beliefs across continents, this is the first major exhibition to reveal the shared history of West Africa, North Africa, the Middle East and Europe from the 8th to 16th centuries. Many of the 250 artworks are appearing in North America for the first time. The exhibition draws on recent archeological discoveries, showcasing fragments excavated in major African trading centers, displayed alongside stunning works of art that invite us to imagine the fragments as they once were, to reconsider treasures from the Western canon and to see the past and present in a new light.

Shahidul Alam: Truth to Power

2019-09-04T13:04:31.189+00:00

Courtesy of Drik "Smitri Azad, Dhaka," 1994, by Shahidul Alam, photograph.

November 8, 2019 through May 4, 2020

This exhibition presents the first comprehensive US museum survey of the renowned Bangladeshi photographer, writer, activist and institution builder. More than 40 images and ephemera, including portraits, landscapes and scenes of daily life and strife in the "majority world"—a term Alam has deployed for decades to reframe notions of global relations—show the breadth of his practice and the impacts of his four-decade career. The exhibition provides a nuanced view of Bangladesh and South Asia, exploring systems of personal and collective agency that underscore the importance of self-representation, empowerment and the quest for truth in both art and life.

The Cloth that Changed the World: India's Painted and Printed Cottons

2019-01-15T19:40:44.554+00:00

Royal Ontario Museum Detail from Indian "chintz" hanging (palampore), 18th century.

November 30, 2019 through April 19, 2020

Made with novel cotton, vivid colors and exuberant design, the painted and printed cottons of India revolutionized art, fashion and science wherever they went. Featuring pieces from the museum's world-renowned collection, this ROM original exhibition explores how, over thousands of years, India's artisans created, perfected and continually innovated these printed and painted, multicolored fabrics to fashion the body, honor divinities and beautify palaces and homes. Included are the stories behind the art: The people who made, commissioned, shipped, sold and ultimately used these pieces.

Las artes del metal en Al-Ándalus

2019-12-06T14:52:24.989+00:00

Museo Arqueológico Nacional

December 17, 2019 through April 26, 2020

This exhibition brings together for the first time the main masterpieces of the metalwork of Al-Andalus, from prestigious Spanish and foreign collections. A large selection of pieces, complemented by audiovisual, interactive tools and illustrations, raise awareness of the technological degree, scientific knowledge and great artistic refinement achieved by this culture and society. From the aspects related to the arts of metal of the time, such as the extraction of metal in from mines.

Homeland Under My Nails: Mohammad Omar Khalil: Selected prints (1964—present)

2020-01-16T15:13:56.930+00:00

Mohammad Omar Khalil "Sacrifice," by Mohammad Omar Khalil, 1975, etching, aquatint, scraping.

January 22, 2020 through April 26, 2020

Mohammad Omar Khalil, a painter, master printmaker and mentor practicing since the 1960s, is one of the most significant artists of his generation from Sudan and the Arab world. A long overdue celebration of his life's work, Homeland Under My Nails, is the first major United Kingdom solo exhibition of his work. The exhibition opens with a series of self-portraits that explore time in his own image, and moves into looking at the international sensibility of the artist, who has lived and worked in New York since the 1970s, trained in Sudan and Italy, and has continued to move between the United States and North Africa.

Age Old Cities: A Virtual Journey From Palmyra to Mosul

2020-01-16T15:19:23.503+00:00

Iconem-DOA-MAFL

January 25, 2020 through October 25, 2020

Journey to three cities in the Middle East—Palmyra and Aleppo in Syria and Mosul in Iraq—in this virtual exhibition organized by the Arab World Institute, Paris, and created in collaboration with UNESCO. These cities, among the oldest uninterrupted human settlements in the world, have recently been devastated by war. To preserve these sites for future generations, Age Old Cities offers large-scale projections and digital reconstructions more than three meters in height showing iconic monuments and historic structures rising from ruins to their former prime. The dynamic images in this immersive experience underscore the critical importance of cultural heritage and architectural preservation as well as the vital role of digital reconstruction in safeguarding the past.

Sahel: Art and Empires on the Shores of the Sahara

2019-11-12T17:19:40.126+00:00

The Metropolitan Museum of Art Equestrian, 19th–20th century. Bamana peoples. Mali, Ouassabo, Bougouni District. Wood, iron, 130 centimeters.

January 30, 2020 through May 10, 2020

This exhibition is the first of its kind to trace the legacy of the mighty states of the Sahel—a vast swath of continental Africa south of the Sahara spanning what is today Senegal, Mali, Mauritania and Niger—and what the peoples of the region produced in the visual arts. The presentation brings into focus transformative developments, such as the rise and fall of political dynasties and the arrival of Islam, through some 150 objects including sculptures in wood, stone, fired clay and bronze; objects in gold and cast metal; woven and dyed textiles; and illuminated manuscripts.

Furusiyya: The Art of Chivalry Between East and West

2020-02-03T17:10:26.985+00:00

Louvre Abu Dhabi

February 19, 2020 through May 30, 2020

Furusiyya in the East meets chivalry in the West. Tales of knightly culture have been told throughout history—of brave heroes fighting for their sovereign, their religion and their honor; stories of war, loss, camaraderie and courtly love. But what was this culture of furusiyya and chivalry? How did each begin? And how did they face each other in important historical periods? This exhibition explores the roots of both as well as the role of a knight in combat and the chivalric codes that developed from Iraq and Syria in the East to France and Spain in the West. More than 130 artworks, from the 10th century CE to the beginning of the 16th century, tell the story.

Hassan Sharif: I Am The Single Work Artist

2020-02-03T17:02:33.457+00:00

Hassan Sharif Estate Hassan Sharif, 1981.

February 29, 2020 through May 3, 2020

This is the first major retrospective in Europe of the late Emirati artist Hassan Sharif (1951–2016). One of the most influential 20th-century artists from the Middle East, he is considered a pioneer of conceptual art and experimental approaches to time, space, form and social interactions. The retrospective is the culmination of Sharif's long history with the Emirate of Sharjah, presenting around 150 works that include early newspaper caricatures and comic strip drawings, paintings, sculptural installations and assemblages.

Unfinished Journeys

2020-01-30T16:10:30.873+00:00

Helen Zughaib

March 7, 2020 through April 11, 2020

This exhibit shows 35 paintings by artist Helen Zughaib, who since the uprisings of the 2011 "Arab Spring" has created art that draws narrative inspiration from the paintings of Jacob Lawrence, who documented migrations of African Americans from the rural South to the urban North. Zughaib’s boldly colorful, graphic style adds to the power of images that speak universally to struggle, uncertainty, endurance and risk as well as to hope and beauty.

Red Sea International Film Festival 2020

2019-08-06T19:50:56.534+00:00

Red Sea International Film Festival

March 12, 2020 through March 21, 2020

This inaugural edition, held in Jiddah, Saudi Arabia, brings together regional and international communities to experience the best in film, immersive art, experimental projects and other cinematic events. Founded to develop and promote the film industry in Saudi Arabia, the festival embraces artistic risk-taking, gender equality, and those short and feature-length films that push traditional narrative forms and to explore the world's complexities in innovative and surprising ways.

Mesopotamia: Civilization Begins

2019-11-20T20:03:21.507+00:00

The Getty Villa Interior view of The Getty Villa

March 18, 2020 through July 27, 2020

Mesopotamia, the land "between the rivers" in modern-day Iraq, was home to Sumerians, Babylonians and Assyrians. Among their many achievements are the creation of the earliest-known script (cuneiform), the formation of the first cities, the development of astronomical and mathematical knowledge, and spectacular artistic and literary accomplishments. The exhibition covers three millennia, from the first cities in about 3200 BCE to Alexander the Great's conquest of Babylon in 331 BCE.

Art Dubai Modern 2020

2020-01-16T15:10:47.680+00:00

DAG, Delhi, Mumbai and New York Rabin Mondal, 1962, oil on canvas

March 25, 2020 through March 28, 2020

The 2020 edition of Art Dubai Modern showcases individual presentations of 19 leading modernist artists from 11 countries of the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia, making this the largest Art Dubai Modern to date. Art Dubai Modern 2020 highlights a number of diverse practices that each exemplify a unique vision and application of modernism ranging from the 1930s until the 1970s. It illustrates the spectrum of formal styles that each of the exhibited artists developed within their cultural and sociopolitical contexts, providing visitors with a unique opportunity to learn about some of the most remarkable figures of modernism from the region.

Leila's Quest for Flight

2020-01-23T18:51:12.673+00:00

April 25, 2020 through April 25, 2020

When the optometrist shatters Leila's dream of becoming a pilot, a menagerie of mythic birds gather to help her accomplish her goal. Drawn from beloved Palestinian folktales, Leila's Quest for Flight incorporates music, dance and physical comedy. These dynamic shows are entertaining for all ages, connecting diverse cultural traditions to contemporary themes.

Jogging by Hanane Hajj Ali, translated by Hassan Abdulrazzak

2020-01-23T18:54:14.545+00:00

Golden Thread Productions

May 2, 2020 through May 2, 2020

Hanane Hajj Ali, a 50-something Lebanese actress and citizen, exercises daily to avoid osteoporosis, obesity and depression. As her story intertwines with the city's tumultuous history, Hajj Ali jogs through Beirut revisiting dreams, desires, hopes and disillusionments. Her body is stimulated through exercise with two hormones, dopamine and adrenaline, alternating between destruction and construction. In Medea-like fashion, this cycle within Hajj Ali—woman, wife and mother—echoes that of her city, one that destroys to build and builds to destroy.

Omar Ba: Same Dream

2020-01-16T15:27:49.683+00:00

The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery, Toronto Omar Ba, Délit de Facies 2 (detail)

May 21, 2020 through August 16, 2020

Same Dream brings together several of Ba’s paintings depicting dictators and authority figures who lead regimes across the African continent and in other parts of the world, particularly where the legacies of colonialism persist. At times represented as hybrid beasts—part human, part animal—Ba often envelops his warlords in an abundance of lush flora and fauna. Indeed, nature becomes a recurring force across Ba’s oeuvre. These biomorphic shapes are often inspired by Senegal’s dazzling coastal environment, in which Ba grew up. In conversation with this group of paintings, the exhibition also presents works that reveal Ba’s affinity for portraying the strength of the human spirit—depictions of youth who, regardless of where they are, share some of the same dreams for the future. For this exhibition, Ba developed a large-scale work directly on the gallery walls that explores a recurrent motif of birth, death and reincarnation across different cultures today. The hybrid world of Ba’s painting ultimately evokes a shared cosmogony among humans, plants and animals.