In Traces of Her, Traces of Words, artists Hayan Maani and Omar Al Shehabi examine how inner states such as memory, language, and emotion, can take shape through form.
In this evocative exhibition, both artists explore the subtle spaces where language, memory, and emotion blur, tracing what is felt rather than spoken.
Hayan Maani reimagines Arabic letterforms not as a vehicle for communication, but as sculptural traces. Working in bronze and aluminum, he transforms calligraphy into meditative forms that invite reflection. These pieces are not meant to be read but experienced as visual echoes of presence, memory, and silence.
Omar Al Shehabi presents a series of emotionally charged paintings that examine psychological interiors, particularly those inhabited by women. Using masks, shadows, and expressive hand gestures, his works navigate the tension between concealment and revelation. These are not portraits in a traditional sense, but layered emotional topographies, intimate explorations of identity in transition.
Together, Maani and Al Shehabi engage with the unspeakable: inner states that resist fixed meaning. Traces of Her, Traces of Words offers a nuanced meditation on how art can embody both presence and absence, body and language, clarity and ambiguity.
