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Dubai Culture, in collaboration with the Barjeel Art Foundation, is presenting the major retrospective exhibition ‘Observers of Change: Art from the UAE (1971–2025)’ at Etihad Museum until 30 June 2026. The showcase traces the development of the UAE’s artistic identity over the past five decades and reflects the Authority’s commitment to strengthening public engagement with the arts, broadening access to culture, and cementing Dubai’s position as a global centre for culture, an incubator for creativity, and a thriving hub for talent.

Featuring over 70 works from the Barjeel Art Foundation collection, the exhibition brings together seminal pieces by pioneering and contemporary artists who have lived and worked in the UAE since 1971. Through painting, photography, sculpture, installation, and mixed media, these artworks chart the evolution of local artistic practice and document the nation’s broader transformation.

The exhibition also offers a cross-generational and cross-regional dialogue, showcasing contributions from Emirati artists alongside creatives from Syria, Iraq, Palestine, Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, and Bahrain. The works span early landscape paintings, abstract and calligraphic work, urban documentation, and conceptual approaches that examine shifting ideas of national identity and collective memory.