Sharjah Art Foundation has announced the artists selected as the first cohort for its Residency Programme 2025-2026. Nearly 2,400 applicants from 126 countries responded to an open call that invited local, regional and international artists and other creatives who wish to pursue experimental, interdisciplinary practice. The programme provides residents with time, space and resources to work on research and develop new projects in dialogue with the Foundation, local contexts and wider regional networks.
The selected artists will be in residence in Bait Obaid Al Shamsi, Sharjah City, and Kalba Ice Factory, Kalba, from November 2025 to January 2026. A second cohort of artists will be announced in February 2026.
Artists and collectives selected for the first programme include Maitha Abdalla (UAE); Afraa Ahmed (Yemen); Mila Balzhieva (Buryatia, Russia); Daria Goncharova (Russia); HUNITI GOLDOX (Jordan/Germany); Fatemeh Kazemi (Iran); and Jim Jasper Lumbera and Joey Alexis Singh (Philippines).
Maitha Abdalla is a multidisciplinary artist whose practice traverses painting, sculpture, installation and performance. Drawing on folklore, mythology and theatre, her work explores the tension between the individual and the collective, as well as the body and the social order. Abdalla has exhibited widely in major biennials and institutional exhibitions and is the co-founder of Bait 15, an artist-run platform in the UAE.
Afraa Ahmed, a Cairo-based artist of Yemeni origin, works across installation, sculpture, photography and video. Her practice examines how notions of home and safety persist in the aftermath of displacement. She has exhibited across Malaysia, Egypt, Jordan, Qatar and the United States and has received support from the Arab Fund for Arts and Culture (AFAC) and Culture Resource (Al-Mawred Al-Thaqafy).
Mila Balzhieva, an interdisciplinary artist from Buryatia, Russia, takes a closer look at multispecies conviviality, ecological grief and ritual through textiles, plants, digital media and drawing. Her work has been presented at institutions including CERN, Geneva; the Venice Biennale; and Vienna Design Week. Balzhieva is the recipient of the Kunsthalle Wien Prize (2023) and BMKÖS AI in Art grant (2025).
Daria Goncharova, a Russian-born interdisciplinary artist based in Belgrade, combines a research-based approach with a critical engagement with the social and infrastructural systems that shape everyday life. Her work has been presented internationally and has received support from the Goethe-Institut’s Culture Moves Europe grant and the European platform IN SITU.
HUNITI GOLDOX, the collaborative practice of Areej Huniti and Eliza Goldox, explores how political systems and histories of violence shape landscapes and bodies of water. Comprising film, VR, installation and performance, their projects have been exhibited at institutions such as Hauser & Wirth Menorca, the Institute for Postnatural Studies (Madrid) and Darat al Funun (Amman).
Fatemeh Kazemi is an interdisciplinary artist and researcher whose work takes the form of installation, film, writing and collective organising. Engaging with topics including communal grief, ritual and subculture, Kazemi’s work has been shown internationally, including at Smack Mellon (New York), Ruschman Gallery (Chicago) and Bayt Al Mamzar (Dubai), and screened at major film festivals in London and Dresden.
Jim Jasper Lumbera and Joey Alexis Singh, an artistic duo based in Batangas, Philippines, work between archive, performance and moving image. Their sensorial practice looks at the entanglement of humanity and spirituality through symbolic gestures and expanded cinema. They are current residents at the Singapore Art Museum and Cemeti Institute for Art and Society, and future guests at Rijksakademie, Amsterdam (2026).
For more information on the programme, please visit sharjahart.org.
Sharjah Art Foundation is an advocate, catalyst and producer of contemporary art within the Emirate of Sharjah and the surrounding region, in dialogue with the international arts community. The Foundation advances an experimental and wide-ranging programmatic model that supports the production and presentation of contemporary art, preserves and celebrates the distinct culture of the region and encourages a shared understanding of the transformational role of art. The Foundation’s core initiatives include the long-running Sharjah Biennial, featuring contemporary artists from around the world; the annual March Meeting, a convening of international arts professionals and artists; grants and residencies for artists, curators and cultural producers; ambitious and experimental commissions and a range of travelling exhibitions and scholarly publications.
Established in 2009 to expand programmes beyond the Sharjah Biennial, which launched in 1993, the Foundation is a critical resource for artists and cultural organisations in the Gulf and a conduit for local, regional and international developments in contemporary art. The Foundation’s deep commitment to developing and sustaining the cultural life and heritage of Sharjah is reflected through year-round exhibitions, performances, screenings and educational programmes in the city of Sharjah and across the Emirate, often hosted in historic buildings that have been repurposed as cultural and community centres. A growing collection reflects the Foundation’s support of contemporary artists in the realisation of new work and its recognition of the contributions made by pioneering modern artists from the region and around the world.
Sharjah Art Foundation is a legally independent public body established by Emiri Decree and supported by government funding, grants from national and international nonprofits and cultural organisations, corporate sponsors and individual patrons. Hoor Al Qasimi serves as President and Director. All exhibitions are free and open to the public.
Sharjah is the third largest of the seven United Arab Emirates, and the only one bridging the Arabian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. Reflecting the deep commitment to the arts, architectural preservation and cultural education embraced by its ruler, Sheikh Dr Sultan bin Mohammad Al Qasimi, Sharjah is home to more than 20 museums and has long been known as the cultural hub of the United Arab Emirates. It was named UNESCO's Arab Capital of Culture for 1998 and the UNESCO World Book Capital for 2019.
Alyazeyah Al Marri
alyazeyah@sharjahart.org
+971 (0)6 5444113
The first cohort of selected artists for Sharjah Art Foundation’s Residency Programme 2025-2026 (From left) Mila Balzhieva (Buryatia, Russia); Jim Jasper Lumbera and Joey Alexis Singh (Philippines); HUNITI GOLDOX (Jordan/Germany); Maitha Abdalla (UAE); Afraa Ahmed (Yemen); Daria Goncharova (Russia); and Fatemeh Kazemi (Iran)