Silent Residues is the first solo exhibition by Ammar Al Attar, a leading voice in the UAE’s contemporary avant-garde scene, on view at Iris Projects’ MiZa space until 26 November 2025. Curated by Nasser Abdullah, the exhibition reflects Al Attar’s deep engagement with abandoned and peripheral sites across the UAE. Through gestures, movement, and repetition, he transforms forgotten objects and spaces into quiet reflections on memory and endurance. In this interview, Ammar Al Attar (A.A) speaks about his process, his fascination with routine, and how his multidisciplinary practice captures the traces of life within spaces on the verge of disappearance.
Your practice has long engaged with the act of documentation, often from behind the camera. What prompted the shift to positioning yourself as both subject and medium in Silent Residues?
A.A: Over the last 5 years, my focus was more on using performance art to express myself as an artist, and I used the camera as a means to document these performances in different areas. I felt that I wanted to use more types of art than just photography to express myself. That’s why I used my body as a medium, since most of my works are reflections of my personal experiences and feelings.
Many of the works in this exhibition emerge from encounters with abandoned or peripheral spaces. Could you walk us through your process of working in these environments — how do you decide what to collect, record, or perform?
A.A: I usually like to go out and work in outdoor environments for my work. Specifically I go to an area called Al Dhaid which is in the middle of the UAE, and part of Sharjah. The area used to be a summer getaway location for many families in the 1980s and 1990s – at that time it had many farms, however due to water scarcity most of the farms became abandoned and the families left the buildings empty. As a result, the architecture remained, and has been left to stand against the different weather conditions. This continued erosion and dust build-up accumulated over time, and this accumulation occurred in silence and without witness. I like to explore relationships between objects, human action, and space, and I use my body as a medium to trace movements and these conditions of the environment.
Some of the pictures presented are in black and white, with coloured shapes and dots added to them. Can you explain this decision? What made you choose the black and white? And why coloured dots and squares?
A.A: The photos were taken separately from the coloured shapes and I wasn’t thinking about the later layer of colour that I added – this usually happens later once I’ve printed them. These layers sometimes represent the mood I’m in and like a poet I want to write circles on photos expressing a language that my soul only can read, and whatever is in my head it will come out on the photograph. These layers will not be the same if I tried to repeat it because I won’t be in the same state of mind the next time I make it.
Location: Iris Project, Abu Dhabi, UAE.
Date: 19 September until 26 November 2025
About Ammar Al Attar
Ammar Al Attar a prominent UAE contemporary artist, working across photography, performance, installation, video, and sculpture. His practice merges documentation with research, transforming rituals, everyday gestures, and decaying objects into visual archives of local culture. Through performative actions, he maps the interaction between body, object, and space, where movement becomes both study and expression.