Against the backdrop of the vast desert at the historic Al-Faya site, recently inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list, 11 artists created a dialogue between art and the desert through their composite works presented at the 'Tanweer' festival, held under the patronage of Sheikha Bodour bint Sultan Al Qasimi, the festival's founder. The second edition of 'Tanweer', which concluded two days ago in the desert of Mleiha in Sharjah, carried the slogan 'What you are looking for is looking for you'. This prompted the participating artists to draw inspiration from the timeless wisdom of Rumi, transforming the desert into an exhibition that mirrors cultural heritage and a profound connection with nature. The works oscillated between geometry, material, and narrative to weave together the past, present, and future in the embrace of the overwhelming nature. A message celebrating hope and the pursuit of self-improvement was conveyed by Sheikha Bodour bint Sultan Al Qasimi, the festival's founder and visionary, during the event's closing to the assembled crowd in Mleiha desert: 'As we conclude these three days, what we have inscribed here will continue to live quietly within you, in the choices and paths you will take in reality. When designing the festival's program, we ensured that every element of Tanweer served one goal: to help reconnect with what truly matters, which is the complete and absolute unity with our aspirations.' She continued: 'As we celebrate the closing of this year's edition of the Tanweer festival, I invite you all to carry this gift into our reality... into our region... into our societies... through our actions, and through the way we love and live, to present a call to the world for peace, unity, and hope.' Emirati artist Jumaa Al Haj presented a work titled 'Whispers of Truth', in which he contemplates quotation marks. The work consists of eight massive, inverted quotation marks made of steel, symbolizing ideas that crystallize over time and experience to become a complete concept. The designers from 'One Third' studio—Amna Bin Busher, Dana, and Dania Ajalan—reimagined the cave as a mirror of the self through their work 'Reflections'. They drew inspiration from the ancient caves of Mleiha and the neighboring Al-Faya geological area, which is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site. They used mirrors inside the cave to reflect the spirit of the Tanweer festival, as mirrors allow each person to see their own reflection. The work stands five meters tall and three and a half meters wide, while anchoring the rocks to the cave from the outside was a lengthy production process. Artist Roudha Al Katbi presented a work titled 'Sediments of Time', composed of 120 balls that evoke the form of water droplets, inspired by Mleiha, which was once the floor of an ancient sea. She sought to bring the water back to the place to reclaim the past, thus embodying the water in this form, while using copper, which changes with time, to signify the transformation of the place and to highlight its potential for future change. The work grants the viewer a moment to pause and contemplate nature. Pakistani artist Shahmeer Mir unveiled his 'Garden of Words' at the festival, featuring Arabic letters emerging from the desert and growing towards the sky like plants. He explained that his interest in the Arabic language stems from his native tongue also being composed of the same letters, in addition to him reciting the Quran in this language, making 'Arabic' central to his daily life. He built the work on a stainless steel base, anchoring the letters into the sand. Syrian artist Tala Hazbar, through her work 'Radi', intertwined matter, layers of time, trajectories of memory, and depths of meaning, aiming to highlight archaeological discoveries from successive prehistoric periods: the Old Stone Age, the New Stone Age, the Bronze Age, and the Iron Age, up to the late pre-Islamic era. She mentioned that the work is composed of panels representing this temporal context and its intersections, noting that art in the desert carries a particular specificity, especially in how the work connects to the environment in which it is placed, where the artist decides whether to blend the work with the environment or to create a special sensory experience. The works of the 11 participating artists in the three-day 'Tanweer' festival in the Mleiha desert varied in themes and materials used. The locations to which the artworks will be moved will be revealed next December.
