Zawyeh Gallery is pleased to present Refined Compositions, a solo exhibition by Palestinian artist Ruba Salameh, opening on 13 September and running until 9 November 2025 at Zawyeh’s space in Alserkal Avenue, Dubai.
Created in a moment when catastrophe unfolds in real time, Refined Compositions asks: How can one continue to make art in the face of genocide? In these new works, Salameh turns to abstraction as a way of carrying memory, mourning, and resilience, while remaining in dialogue with the late Palestinian painter and art historian Kamal Boullata. His seminal piece Homage to the Flag (1995) becomes a living point of resonance, connecting her practice to a wider continuum of Palestinian artists for whom the flag and its colours have been both a site of hope and of censorship.
In Salameh’s work, the colours of the Palestinian flag, historically banned or suppressed, reappear in reduced and reimagined palettes. Her method is patient and layered: canvases are sometimes left aside for months or years before being reworked, concealed, and resurfaced. This cycle of interruption and return mirrors the fragile but enduring nature of memory itself.
A recurring presence in her paintings is the ant. Tiny, almost invisible, they emerge along borders and surfaces as fragile yet enduring marks. For Salameh, ants symbolise hard work, farming culture, and a deep connection to the land. Their organic movement across the earth reflects their role as an inherent part of its ecosystems, recalling the quiet endurance of Palestinian workers and farmers.
By weaving together personal memory, cultural lineage and a commitment to abstraction,
Salameh’s Refined Compositions offers a deeply felt meditation on what endures, how grief, resistance and hope remain entangled across generations.
Press release from Zawyeh Gallery
Image: Ruba Salameh. B-Sat. 2025. Linen on Acrylic. 120 x 189.5 cm. Image courtesy of the artist
