Sharjah Art Foundation

Sharjah Biennial 15: Thinking Historically in the Present

SB15 is now closed. Thank you for your support. Updates on the Biennial can be read here.

Chillahona (2022) and other works

Chillahona (2022) and other works

Saodat Ismailova

Saodat Ismailova is a filmmaker and artist whose upbringing in post- Soviet Uzbekistan and engagement with the region continue to drive her practice. Ismailova’s filmography addresses themes of national memory, women’s sovereignty, ritualism and mortality.

Garden of Desire (2023)

Garden of Desire (2023)

Bahar Behbahani

Bahar Behbahani’s research-based practice interweaves archival materials, cartography, horticultural history and contemporary context to critique imperial structures of knowledge and power.

Gnawa Capoeira Brothahood (2023)

Gnawa Capoeira Brothahood (2023)

Hassan Hajjaj

Hassan Hajjaj’s visual compositions are a constant evocation of his multicultural upbringing and the relationships he has developed through traversing cultural backgrounds.

MADRE (2019–ongoing)

MADRE (2019–ongoing)

Marisol Mendez

Marisol Mendez’s work journeys into ancestral and collective histories of colonialism, racism and traditionalism—all of which shaped her experience of growing up in Cochabamba, Bolivia.

The Myth of Eternal Life (2020–2022)

The Myth of Eternal Life (2020–2022)

Zohra Opoku

Zohra Opoku traces the politics of personal identity from a critical perspective informed by historical, cultural and socioeconomic influences in contemporary Ghana.

The Willing (2022–2023) and other works

The Willing (2022–2023) and other works

Helina Metaferia

Challenging the Eurocentrism of art, amplifying the labour of BIPOC women activists and evaluating notions of citizenship, Helina Metaferia seeks to elucidate the contradictions at the core of American identity.

Treasured Shadows (2022)

Treasured Shadows (2022)

Aziza Shadenova

Aziza Shadenova’s paintings, films and performances interrogate the world of emotions and memories and advance non- linear understandings of time.

Water is a Time Machine (2023)

Water is a Time Machine (2023)

Aline Motta

Sifting through traces of the past, Brazilian visual artist Aline Motta seeks to reveal the constant cycles of renewal and transmutation that have occurred throughout her family’s history.