NADA House 2023

The site-specific installation “Migrating Garden” by Shaqayeq Arabi comprises suspended sculptures that, together, compose a dynamic landscape in the air. Made of various organic and manmade materials, such as found twigs and mesh, the installation responds to wind or the movement of visitors, thus considering the shifting relationships and tensions between fragility and resilience, structure and flexibility, nature and existence.

The natural materials have a special resonance for the artist for their ability to bend yet resist external forces; an Iranian artist based between Dubai, Tehran and New York, Arabi's work can be seen as a metaphor for the precarity of living in the Middle East. “Migrating Garden” not only accepts but embraces the conditions in which she lives, finding inspiration in images of resilience in her environment.