Exhibition Spotlight: Body Quotidian opens at Sharjah Art Foundation

Featuring works by Laila Majid and Inaam Zafar, the powerful new exhibition explores the role of the human body. 

If you’re looking for a new exhibition to check out this summer, the new Body Quotidian collection at the Sharjah Art Foundation is the perfect place to escape the heat and get some fresh inspiration. 

Now open and running until September 20, it showcases a beautiful collection of photographs, sculptures, and paintings by Emirati artist Laila Majid and Pakistani visual artist and educator Inaam Zafar.

Filled with thought-provoking metaphors and symbolism, it explores the power of the human body, including its role in modern life, and how it shapes perception, memories and the ways we view the world.

Curated by Raja’a Khalid, Assistant Curator at Sharjah Art Foundation, the pieces move between quiet domestic scenes and bold abstraction, creating a strong dialogue between the contrasting works of the two artists.

For instance, in Majid’s work, hidden messages are revealed slowly and purposefully. The highlights of her collection include Steam 07, a UV print on a misted bathroom that incorporates viewer’s own reflection into the art.

Installation Blinds then recalls the warm atmosphere of home, while her Chaser series provides a glimpse of the artist's more playful side, featuring sculptures inspired by cat toys that signify the joys of movement, desire and pursuit.

Meanwhile, Zafar’s figuration and abstraction pieces touch upon the haunting themes of death, decay and the body as a perishable entity. Skilled at transforming seemingly ordinary objects and gestures into dream-like images, his standout works include the sombre yet enchanting Mourners (featuring forms gathered in collective grief) Untitled (which at first glance seems to look the interior of a tent) and Bent Moon, a piece that sees a regular streetlamp become a glowing, moon-like sphere.

Visit: sharjahart.org