Rizq Art Initiative (RAi), an independent, artist-led social enterprise in Abu Dhabi, has announced its latest exhibition titled Under the Same Sky. Running from May 22nd to July 31st, 2026, the exhibition at the Rizq Art Gallery on Al Reem Island will feature 20 artists from the UAE.
Conceived as a tribute to the UAE, Under the Same Sky brings together Emirati artists and artists from diverse backgrounds for whom the UAE is currently home. The artists carry different histories, languages and geographies, but their practices are shaped by a shared act of sustained presence – by what is noticed, learned and absorbed through time spent in the country.
Under the Same Sky will include Emirati artists Maitha Al Omaira, whose cyanotype work captures both light and time to reveal the restless, ever-changing nature of the ghaf tree, Shamsa Al Mansoori, whose work with photography and mixed media captures the complexity of contemporary Emirati life where ancestral roots coexist with a future-focused spirit, Shamma Al Mazrouie, who explores the architectural language of an Emirati home through her artworks and Sara Al Sulaimani, who documents a city’s transformation based on the poetry of the UAE’s Founding Father, the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan. The show will also feature artists who reside in the UAE including Karine Roche, who explores how geometric weaving reconstructs façades of buildings and depicts the flame tree flowers in Abu Dhabi, Tala Atrouni, who uses Palestinian Tatreez to explore the fragile relationship between identity and self-perception, Nour Hage, who explores textile traditions to create highly personal talismanic objects which unite her hometown and current home, and multi-disciplinary artist Simrin Mehra-Agarwal, whose background as a researcher opens critically urgent dialogues around nature, specific to the geography and ecology of the UAE
Shafeena Yusuff Ali, founder and xxecutive director of Rizq Art Initiative, said, “Under the Same Sky is one of the most meaningful exhibitions we have presented since founding the Rizq Art Initiative. It carries a particular resonance in this moment and is a quiet affirmation of what the UAE is, and what it has always been to those of us who call it home. The show is a reminder that the UAE’s enduring strength has always been its capacity to hold many histories, languages and memories under one sky, highlighting the depth of belonging that exists within our communities.”
In the show, artists are invited to showcase new or existing works in response to a prompt of their choosing drawn from within the UAE. This may emerge from an everyday encounter, an object or material, a location, a gesture or a moment that has remained quietly significant. Their practices engage closely with the environment they inhabit, responding to a society shaped by movement and change while remaining attentive to their own cultural lineages. Together, the works reflect the ongoing interplay between lived experience and artistic practice.
Under the Same Sky has been conceptualised by RAi’s chief curator Meena Vari, an accomplished curator and academic who has served as Dean at Srishti Manipal Institute of Art, Design and Technology, Bangalore, and curated for the Center for Experimental Media & Arts (CEMA). A Chevening Scholar and Fulbright Fellow, she has collaborated with institutions including Tate UK and the Kochi Biennale Foundation, bringing a wealth of international curatorial and leadership experience to the Initiative.
Vari said, “The contemporary art landscape of the UAE is shaped by movement and convergence. Its cities are defined by continual arrival and departure, and by rapid transformation in both physical and social terms. What emerges is not a single narrative of the country, but a layered, sometimes camouflaged cultural mapping shaped from within. The works being showcased in Under the Same Sky speak to one another across mediums and lineages, offering a portrait of the UAE as it is lived, observed and reimagined by those who call it home today.”
Founded in 2023 by Shafeena Yusuff Ali, an art collector, scholar and philanthropist, RAi has rapidly grown into a vital presence within the arts ecosystem of Abu Dhabi and beyond. Fully owned and operated by a team of women and rooted in the spirit of collaboration, RAi creates opportunities for dialogue and exchange through exhibitions, research, and interdisciplinary projects. Previous exhibitions at RAi this year included Ponnu Pole/ Like Gold curated by Murtaza Vali at the sixth edition of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, The Imaginary Museum curated by Meena Vari and Scene/Seen curated by Gaith Abdullah.
Participating artists:
Adrian Scicluna
Ahmad Al Reef
Anne Marie Lacroix
Dina Nazmi Khorchid
Elham Shafaei
Farah Soltani
Hala El Abora
Karine Roche
Maitha Al Omaira
Mouza Almheiri
Nikolay Koshelev
Nour Hage
Rabila Kidwai
Sara Al Sulaimani
Shamma Al Mazrouie
Shamsa Al Mansoori
Simrin Mehra-Agarwal
Sophiya Khwaja
Tala Atrouni
Zahra Shafie
Press release from Rizq Art Initiative
Image: Tala Atrouni. The Broken Binary. 2026. Mixed media, mirror, wood, DMC Woolly 5 threads, SS stainless steel mesh. Approximately 220 cm x 81 cm. Image courtesy of the artist
