A barrage of new openings hit the region at the end of last month, with galleries placing a particular focus on uplifting female artists. Aidha Badr’s I’m Never Coming Back explores themes of motherhood and identity through portraiture, while Gail Spaien’s Arranging Flowers seeks to interpret domestic spaces through dreamlike floral compositions. The Ithra Museum’s latest exhibition, Horizon in Their Hands, pushed female artists further into the spotlight by revisiting the work of fifty Arab women artists who shaped modern art between the 1960s and 1980s. An increased focus on retrospection and celebrating the region’s heritage also cropped up in other galleries; Gallery Naila is currently commemorating Saudi National Day through reinterpretations of local heritage, while The Third Line’s twentieth anniversary exhibition features works by all artists currently represented by the gallery.
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Curated by Beya Othmani and Omar Berrada, M’barek Bouhchichi’s latest exhibition examines Blackness, migration, and survival through a range of objects and installations. In Herbarium (2025), nine alabaster engravings depict plants from Quilombo Kalunga and Khandaq ar-Rayhan, tracing ancestral knowledge and diasporic resilience. Stick Charts (2025) maps trans-Saharan journeys using brass eucalyptus branches and cowrie shells, while Vegetal Man (2025) translates the agave lifecycle into a meditation on sacrifice and rebirth. Saadia (2025) contrasts black and white marble to interrogate representation, linking North Africa to broader African poiesis. Extremely personal and deeply evocative, Black Seeds perfectly achieves Bouhchichi’s overarching artisti
