Concerned with the relics of an ever self-renewing architecture, Lamya Gargash documents the forgotten spaces in public and private realms in Emirati society. Throughout her career Gargash has won a number of awards for her work in film and photography. Gargash participated at the 53rd Venice Biennale (2009) as the featured artist at the UAE's first ever national pavillion. Presenting her new series Familial, Gargash exhibited photographs taken across the UAE which visually play with the notion of hospitality and the politics of interior design.

In 2004, Gargash received first prize in the Emirates Film Festival, as well as Ibdaa Special Jury Award for her movie titled, Wet Tiles. Gargash's first artist book titled Presence, is a photographic series which documents recently vacated houses and structures in the United Arab Emirates that have been abandoned or left for demolition.

Gargash received her Masters of Arts in Communication Design from Saint Martins in the UK in 2007 after graduating from the American University of Sharjah in 2004. She has participated in group exhibitions in Canada, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Japan, and France as well as within the UAE. Gargash currently lives and works in Dubai.

BORN

1982
Dubai, UAE
Lives and works in Dubai

EDUCATION

2007
Masters of Arts in Communication Design from Central Saint Martins School of Art & Design, London, UK
2004
Bachelor of Science in Visual Communication from the American University of Sharjah, UAE

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2012
Through the Looking Glass, The Third Line, Dubai, UAE
2011
Presence, Galleria Marabini, Bologna, Italy
2010
Presence Series, Galerie Brigitte Schenk, Cologne, Italy
2009
Familial Series, UAE Pavilion, 53rd Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy
Majlis Series, Sharjah Biennale 9, Sharjah Museum, Sharjah, UAE 2008 Presence, The Third Line, Doha, Qatar
Creek Art Fair, Dubai, UAE

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2011
The Heart of Phoenix: Art and Culture of the United Arab Emirates-Sharjah, Gyeonggi Museum of Modern Art, Korea
Wet Tiles (2003), Shubbak Festival- Iniva, London, UK
2009
Collection Dubai, SMART Project Space, Amsterdam Emirati Expressions, Emirates Palace, Abu Dhabi
2008
Artist Residency Program with Tashkeel Artist Studio and the Goethe Institute in Berlin, Germany
Dubai Next, Curated by Jack Persekian and Rem Koolhaas, The Vitra Museum, Wil Am Rhein, Germany
My Father’s House, Curated by Lucy Till Awny of the British Council, Held in the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Yemen
2007
Life Drawing, The Third Line, Dubai, UAE
A Light In to Nations Photography Show, Toronto, Canada
Central St. Martins Final Degree Show, London, UK
2006
Untitled, Locarno Film Festival, Switzerland
See It Like It Is, YMCA photography exhibition, London, UK 2005 Hyper Real, The Third Line, Dubai, UAE
Wet Tiles, Osaka Film Festival, Osaka, Japan
2004
Wet Tiles, Dubai International Film Festival, Dubai, UAE
Wet Tiles, Amsterdam Arab Film Festival, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Wet Tiles, Paris Arab Film Festival, Paris, France
2003
Wet Tiles, Emirates Film Festival, Abu Dhabi, UAE
Ibdaa Exhibition, Dubai, UAE
Photography Exhibition, American University in Sharjah, UAE
Bon a Tirer, AUS printmaking exhibition, American University in Sharjah, UAE
2000
Dubai Chamber of Commerce Art Show, Dubai, UAE

PUBLICATIONS

New Vision: Arab Contemporary Art in the 21st Century, London: Thames & Hudson, 2011 ISBN 978-095-679-422-2
Arabesque 2: Graphic Design from the Arab World and Persia, Die Gestalten Verlag, 2011, ISBN: 978-389-955-330-7
Soura Magazine Turns 5 The Book, Unexplored Publishing, 2010
Presence. (2006 – 2007). Page One Publishing. Ltd. Works on Paper, The Third Line. ISBN 978-981-245-768-4

BIBLIOGRAPHY

2011
Hawatmeh, Diana, Arabesque 2:Graphic Design from the Arab World and Persia, Handmade, pg. 8 & 42
2010
Soura Magazine, 5th Anniversary Edition, Forgotten Spaces, pg. 6 – 8, April 2010 Barret, Nyree, Your Guide to Art Dubai, Time Out, March 2010
Domit, Elie, A Culture That Came to Bloom after the Oil Boom, the black snapper
online photography magazine, http://www.theblacksnapper.net/
2009
Contemporary Practices, Profiles: Lamya Gargash, pg. 24 – 25, Volume 5, 2009
Jarvie, Catherine, What’s On, Local Hero, pg. 47, November 2009
Valbonesi, Ilari, Art e Critica, L’Arte Politica Dell’Ospitalita – The Political Art of Hospitality (Tehran, Dubai, Venice), August 2009, pg. 44 – 46
Stoney, Elisabeth, Contemporary Practices, Under Construction: Dubai City of Culture, Review of Dubai Next: Face of Twenty-first Century Culture, March 2009, pg. 42 – 47 Kilston, Lyra, Modern Painters, May 2009, UAE Pavilion, pg. 54 – 59
The National, m Magazine, New Ways of Seeing the Future, pg. 18 - 23
Rawlings, Asia Art Pacific, Ashley, Preview of the 53rd Venice Biennale: Making Brave
New Worlds, May / June 2009, pg. 98 – 107
Walsh, Callaghan, L’Uomo Vogue, Emirati Arab Unis, Lamya Gargash
The Guardian, United Arab Emirates confronts stereotypes in Venice Biennale debut, June 2009
Hume, Jessica, The National, Venice stirs up Emirati artists, March 14, 2009
Art Collection + Design, Hong Kong, Art Market, March 2009, March 14 2009, pg. 16 - 20 2008
Fekri, Reem, Urban Artists, brownbook, May – June 2008, pg. 35 – 47
Kadry, Mohamed, Khaleej Times, City Times, Past Forward, 16 March 2008
Barrett, Nyree, Inside Out, Extinction, June 2008, pg. 120 - 123
2007
Art Tattler Online, December 2007 www.arttattler.com/uae.html
Canvas Guide, Mixed Media, November – December 2008, pg. 10 Vali, Muratza, Bidoun, Life Drawing: Review, Spring – Summer 2008

AWARDS

2004
Ibdaa special jury’s award for Movie, Wet Tiles, Dubai, UAE
2003
First place prize, the Emirates Film Festival, Abu Dhabi, UAE
Ibdaa winner in photography, Dubai, UAE