Following the guiding idea of "Across Borders" AB Gallery unites four artistic positions with different cultural backgrounds in one exhibition. In this context, the works of Aamir Habib (Pakistan), Sara Al Haddad (UAE), Christian Triebsch (Germany/Egypt) and Cristiana de Marchi (Italy/UAE) enter into a multi-­layered dialogue.

Both, Italian artist Cristiana de Marchi and young talent Sara Al Haddad from Dubai, express themselves through the technique of embroidery. By combining words with everyday objects, De Marchi chooses a conceptual approach. Habitual views and connections are called into question -­‐ especially when it comes to the use of language. How we believe in the half-­‐truths of the media for reasons of convenience or resignation or how we evade responsibility by using the sentence "If only" driving away our bad conscience like a fly. Sara Al Haddad's works are beyond any reason or rational control; they rather express her emotions, feelings and deepest thoughts in a very direct way. By transferring unconsciousness and spontaneity into her embroidery she creates a lyrical-­‐expressive synthesis of text and image. In the short statements of "Filling Holes" the intertwined threads leave a trace of disturbance, injury and tension.

Pakistani artist Aamir Habib and German artist Christian Triebsch also do have a common starting point. Both of them include gold leaf in their works. Gold -­‐ in icon painting used as background in order to emphasize the non-­‐secular spheres of the depicted saints -­‐ becomes the sole actor in Christian Triebsch's monochrome paintings. He titled his monumental and monochrome works "Pleroma", referring to the ancient Greek meaning of the world that describes the divine-­‐spiritual fullness and the liveliness of the being-­‐world. However, the scratched golden surfaces covered with furrows and scuffs, do not only talk about beauty and eternity, but also about transience. With his work "When the land escapes" Aamir Habib sets a painful-­‐moving sign of a nation marked by the terrors of war. The frozen smoke cloud of a cannon shot dissolves into infant faces -­‐ imagery for the unborn generation, the lost hope and unfinished dreams of the people affected by the injustice of war. In the gold streaming down the table Aamir Habib depicts the loss of innocence and lack of transparency in official reporting about the conflict.

Image: © Sara Al Haddad, AB Gallery