Pro Art Gallery, the gallery that celebrates innovative and cutting edge art in the Middle East, will host a new exhibition titled Spirituality in Motion, which will showcase artworks by renowned contemporary Iranian artist Hossein Irandoust. The exhibition will run from March 12th to March 20th at the Pro Art Gallery.

Read More: Art Gallery to Showcase Sufism’s Mystical Journey Through Exhibition

After a particularly heavy storm in 1991, the artist Nabil Nahas took a walk along Southampton Beach in Long Island, New York, and found it littered with starfish, spewed out by the recently tumultuous sea. According to William Lawrie, who wrote an essay on the seminal Lebanese artist many years later, it was the turning point in his career. “Fascinated by the random composition they made against the wet sand, Nahas attached a starfish body to one of the panels of a diptych, itself part of the Circle series,” writes Lawrie. “This was a pivotal work and he knew it, thus entitling it Eureka.”

Read More: Nabil Nahas’s New Collection for Lawrie Shabib Gallery in Dubai

The white paper cut-outs are mounted on white frames and a white background, simple and clean in appearance. The thoughts and intent behind their creation is in fact the culmination of years of study and introspection. The nine cut-outs are displayed at the Swiss Art Gate UAE exhibition, The Universe of Patterns, in the lobby of the Swiss Tower at Jumeirah Lake Towers in Dubai. The exhibition is part of a study by the architect André Meyerhans that asks: how can we find a contemporary geometric design that reflects the modern Middle East?

Read More: Sharp Practice: Investigating the Cut-paper Works of Andre Meyerhans

If you want a reason to visit Reza Derakhshani’s solo show at Salsali Private Museum, the fact that the main installation has completely changed since it was unveiled during Art Week is a good one. The black-sand snakes that the artist shaped with a common house brush before the opening in March have been swept away and replaced with skulls that lie at the base of the tomb of Cyrus the Great, the founder of the Persian Empire. The area has also been curtained off and filled with black light. To see the glowing shape of Pasargadae, you must peek through cut-out eyeholes. Its dynamism, colour and theme summarise the exhibition.

Read More: Reza Derakhshani’s Works Evoke Iran’s Magnificent Past

New York-based Iranian artist Nima Behnoud’s work is inspired by Persian culture and calligraphy. In his first ever exhibition, Behnoud is showcasing a series of silk-screen prints on paper that feature verses from famous poet Rumi, references to Persian history and mythology, pre-Islamic Iranian motifs, calligraphic letters and Islamic arabesque patterns. But the vivid colours he has used, the way he has juxtaposed the different elements, and his emphasis on geometric forms rather than the meaning of the words gives these artworks a contemporary look.

Read More: Rediscovering the Beauty of Language

Lebanese artist Walid Raad rose to international acclaim in the early 2000s with The Atlas Group, established in Lebanon in 1999 with Raad as its only known member. The Atlas Group intended to “research and document the contemporary history of Lebanon.” In other words, like other post-civil war artists of his generation, this project formulated an attempt to work in response to the events of the Lebanese Civil War (1975–1990), the effects of which still resonate with the Lebanese people. In a series of works linked to The Atlas Group’s archive, the thin lines between fact and fiction, history and the imaginary, the production and construction of memory, and the documented and the performed are continuously blurred. Raad has continued to work on these themes in his current work.

Read More: Scratching Beneath the Surface

The Third Line is proud to present a survey exhibition of Iranian artist Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian that reflects upon the past decade of her remarkable artistic journey. Showcasing works from 2004 until now – including those being displayed for the first time – the exhibition highlights Monir’s stellar career as a pioneer in contemporary Iranian art.

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In twinkling tones over a crackling line from Tehran, Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian smiles almost audibly as she talks about mirrors. “Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the prettiest of them all,” she lilts. It is no wonder she lights up on the subject: mirror mosaic forms the basis of her work and it is through large installation works such as Flight of the Dolphin, part of the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art, and Lightning for Neda, six panels that hang in the Queensland Art Gallery in Brisbane, Australia, that this octogenarian has gained international recognition.

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“A Monument of Buzzwords”, the work of Egyptian artist Samir El Kordy and part of the exhibition “PhotoCairo 5” at Townhouse Gallery, in downtown Cairo gives us more than just “buzzwords.” PhotoCairo 5 is a large-scale contemporary art project organized by the Contemporary Image Collective and curated by Mia Jankowicz, which explores paradigm shifts. Involving international and local, emerging and established artists, the exhibition examines the ability of art to trigger affective responses from the viewer.

Read More: Samir El Kordy

Unlike most calligraphy artists, Tahir bin Qullander steers away from the conventional form of Islamic calligraphy. Based in Lahore, Pakistan, Bin Qullander experiments portraying Islamic calligraphy with bold strokes and presents his art to look like landscapes and portraits as compared to the usual parchment type presentation of calligraphy. Qullander, who opened his first international art show recently, is displaying his work at the Al Hamail Art Gallery in Al Qouz for a month.

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“Where Are You Now?” is a retrospective of young British artist Vanessa Hodgkinson’s work, which reflects different stages of her engagement with Islamic art and the struggle to find her identity in the context of Islamic and Western artistic traditions. The show, curated by Maisa Al Qassimi, traces her artistic journey over the last seven years, while offering a unique Western perspective on the debate about Western perceptions of traditional Islamic art and its relationship to contemporary Western art.

Read More: Seeking a Better Viewpoint