Salmah Almansoori: The Body Becomes an Archive

In Salmah Almansoori's works, the body never appears as a stable or definitive form. Organic surfaces, membranes, fabrics, and suspended structures construct environments in which identity and transformation remain in a state of constant redefinition. It is from this unstable dimension that Who I Become, a solo exhibition hosted at the Maraya Art Centre, arises. The exhibition represents one of the Emirati artist's most complex projects to date, bringing together new installations and site-specific works developed around the theme of personal metamorphosis. Rather than describing a defined identity, the exhibition seems to focus on the process through which the self is constructed, fragmented, and continually negotiated through experience, memory, and perception. The works use soft, translucent, and layered materials that evoke skin, biological tissues, and cellular structures. In many cases, the visitor finds himself immersed in almost anatomical environments, where the distinction between physical space and emotional dimension tends to dissolve. The installation thus becomes an extension of the body itself, but also a place of vulnerability and transformation. The title Who I Become suggests an identity understood not as a permanent condition but as an open process. Almansoori's works move between presence and absence, growth and dissolution, avoiding linear narratives or explicit symbolism. Rather than offering recognizable images, the artist constructs ambiguous forms that seem to belong simultaneously to the organic world, memory, and imagination.