It’s been a few years since Rashid School for Boys closed its doors for good, at least in the form we left it. That Building, those hallways, the sound of the bell, the secret corners, the smell of the grass fields… they’re all gone.
And yet, they continue to live in us.
Loudly.
Quietly.
Unexpectedly.
As you know, high school is difficult for anyone. But when you’re a boy moving through a system that rarely gives you the language to express what you feel, the challenge becomes internal. You learn to manage, contain, adapt. You try to meet expectations you can’t fully comprehend, all while still becoming who you are.
At RSB, we were sons, students, friends, enemies, performers, leaders, misfits.
Sometimes all at once.
Sometimes not enough of any.
This exhibition reflects how we’ve carried those years with us: some try to rebuild what was lost, others dismantle what never made sense, and a few quietly trace the outlines of fragile moments.
The show moves between memory and resistance, documentation and disappearance, control and chaos.
Throughout, we see shifts between what was said and what was meant, between how we were seen and how we saw ourselves. These works don’t offer closure. They remain open, fragmentary and uncertain… like memory itself.
There are gestures of rebellion, where humour hides discomfort. There are small moments of care, buried in overlooked details. And across it all, there’s an urge to make sense of a time that still echoes within us.
Now, years later, we return to these memories with a little more patience. A little more language. A little more permission to feel what we couldn’t back then. We come back with softness, with clarity and with a willingness to say “we’ve done alright”.
Special thanks to: Rashid and Latifa School, Bayt Al Mamzar Patron Circle, Abdulkhaliq Abdulla, Afra Al Dhaheri, Ayoob Al Marzouqi, Bin Mona, Khalid Abdualla, Khalid Al Najjar, Khalid Alawar, Lazar Barreto, Mohammad Yousof, Najla Busit, Poorvaja Subramanian, Racine Burney, Rashid Bin Jarn, Sara Almaazmi and Yousuf AlMazrouei.
Text by Jumairy
Image: Jumairy. Prime Matter. 2025. Series of six looping animated videos. Photography by Adele Bea Cipste. Image courtesy of the artist
