Lawrie Shabibi is pleased to present its summer exhibition HEROES & VILLAINS, a group exhibition that embodies Lawrie Shabibi's commitment to presenting a diverse range of artistic talent from the wider Middle East region.

Who are today's heroes? Who are the villains? In 2011, the year of change, the answer to this has never been less clear. Those who we adulate one minute might repulse us the next. Heroes commit villainous acts and yet even villains can redeem themselves. The very idea that they were ever villains at all depends on perspective and timing. In the fast-paced changes in today's world, the absolutes in politics and morality are exposed as illusory, expeditious and ambivalent. HEROES & VILLAINS explores these grey areas in vivid colour, demonstrating the heady mix of glamour, drama, melodrama and grit that characterizes our notions of heroism and villainy.

A number of the artists selected for the show have never been exhibited in Dubai before. This includes Afghan video artist and photographer Gazelle Samizay, whose work explores the intersection of her Afghan heritage and American upbringing through her status as a woman; the Iranian artist Asad Faulwell, whose new works of intricately woven collages celebrate the largely unsung female freedom fighters who struggled to end French occupation in Algeria; Aicha Hamu, the Moroccan/French multi-disciplinary artist here presenting a stunning polyptych of Elizabeth Taylor and her seven husbands; Katayoun Vaziri whose nationalist Iranian posters of the 80'sa are manipulated by the general public; and the extraordinary graphic scenes of urban decay by the young Egyptian Ali Abdel Mohsen.

Other artists included are Yasam Sasmazer, the young Turkish sculptor whose haunting yet appealing images of children have been causing a sensation; Farsad Labbauf, who paints figures with an almost calligraphic touch, and whose work can be found in the Saatchi Collection and Marwan Sahmarani, one of the three 2010 Abraaj Capital Art Prize winners.