GUANGZHOU, 27th February, 2026 (WAM) -- The Aranya Art Centre in Guangzhou has announced the opening of the exhibition “In Presence and Absence: Works from the Sharjah Art Foundation (SAF) Collection,” featuring more than 70 artworks, including paintings, sculptures, photography, video, and textile works by 28 artists. The exhibition runs from 22 March to 30 August 2026.
The exhibition examines how artists from West Asia, South Asia, Africa, and the diaspora interpret land, highlighting distinctive trajectories of artistic practice and experimentation from the 1950s to the present. Modernist works engage in dialogue with contemporary practices, revealing artistic continuities and intersections across generations and situating contemporary art within a broader historical context.
The initiative is among the first institutional exhibitions in China dedicated to exploring artistic practices from these interconnected regions.
The exhibition title draws inspiration from a poetry collection by the Egyptian artist and writer Ahmed Morsi, whose multidisciplinary practice addresses themes of displacement and permanence. The curatorial framework examines land not merely as geography but as a shaping presence in visual language and identity.
The exhibition is curated by Sheikha Hoor bint Sultan Al Qasimi, President and Director of Sharjah Art Foundation, and Damian Zhang, Director of Aranya Art Centre, with support from the curatorial and research teams of both institutions.
The Sharjah Art Foundation presents contemporary art and cultural programmes that activate the artistic landscape in Sharjah, the UAE, and the wider region. Its initiatives include the Sharjah Biennial, March Meeting, artist residencies, educational programmes, research projects, and an expanding art collection.