The Time of Form

At the Aisha Alabbar Gallery in Dubai In the Space of Becoming, a new solo exhibition by Emirati artist Alia Hussain Lootah, opens on January 17 and runs until March 10. In this presentation Lootah deepens her exploration of how form moves, shifts and transforms across painting, drawing and sculpture, tracing shapes as they stretch, collapse and reappear in altered states. The exhibition’s title evokes a continuous process of becoming rather than a finished state. Knitted sculptures anchor the show, demonstrating how simple materials generate complexity through repetition and touch and creating a dialogue between softness and stability, between movement and stillness. Everyday materials link the works to gestures of domestic experience while keeping their meanings open and evolving. Paintings and drawings echo the internal motion of the sculptural pieces with lines that loop back, fragment and reconfigure, inviting a patient engagement with works that are always unfolding. Lootah’s practice, anchored in the sensory experience of making, highlights transformation as a slow evolution rooted in time, attention and repeated gesture. Born in Dubai and active in the local and international art scene, the artist has shown work at platforms such as Art Dubai and Abu Dhabi Art, and her practice engages ideas of memory, relationships and perception through diverse formal languages.