Inside Abdul Raheem Salem’s Sharjah studio

Abdul Raheem Salem came from humble roots to establish himself as one of the UAE’s leading artists. Born in Dubai in 1955, he spent his childhood by the seaside in Sharjah and Dubai. When his father died, he and his mother went to live with his grandmother in Bahrain, where she was one of the house staff for a large family.

By the time he was 14, Salem was already making sandstone sculptures and was showing his work in Bahrain. In 1981, he graduated from Cairo University with a degree in fine arts specialising in sculpture, and returned to the UAE to teach art in public schools.

It was during this time that he began making sculptures out of gypsum and wood, which went on to be displayed in several Emirates Fine Arts Society exhibitions, and which were selected by Sheikha Hoor Al Qasimi for the UAE National Pavilion at Venice Biennale 2015.

“It was a good feeling to see those sculptures again,” says Salem, one of 15 artists chosen for the show, titled 1980 – Today: Exhibitions in the United Arab Emirates, which includes more than 120 pieces of art dating to when the local contemporary art scene began to take shape.

“It is also a very important subject to choose to represent the UAE,” he adds. “The 1980s was the base, the starting point for the art scene as it is today. It was a beautiful idea. We artists are not like flowers in the desert, coming without any support. No, we have roots, we have a history and when people see this, they can appreciate it.”

Original article by Anna Seaman

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Inside Abdul Raheem Salem’s Sharjah studio