Sharjah Art Foundation presents Body Quotidian, an exhibition featuring recent works by Laila Majid and Inaam Zafar exploring the human body and its presence in contemporary life through metaphor and symbolism. The exhibition is on view from 13 June to 20 September 2026 at Gallery 6, Al Mureijah Square, Sharjah.

In Majid’s practice, sculptural and photographic works unfold through slow revelation. In Steam 07 (2026), a misted bathroom mirror captures a fleeting image shaped by steam and reflection. Reproduced as a UV print on Dibond mirror, the work heightens the ambiguity of what is seen, allowing light, colours and the viewer’s own reflection to become part of the image. Familiar and dream-like at once, the work recalls a routine domestic moment.

The sculptural series Blinds (2026) continues this focus on interior spaces and the body. Installed within the space, the latex blinds cast a warm, human-toned light into the gallery while recalling curtains or partitions found in domestic settings, recalling the atmosphere of everyday life.

Majid introduces a more playful language in her Chaser series (2025–ongoing). Crafted from faux fur, feathers and tinsel, and inspired by cat toys, the sculptures evoke movement, attraction and pursuit. At once decorative and instinctive, the works reflect on desire, play and attention.

Parallelly, Zafar’s practice explores themes of death and decay, while foregrounding the body as a perishable entity. Suspended between figuration and abstraction, works such as Mourners (2026), suggest bowed forms gathered in collective grief.

Through subtle tones and close attention to shape, Zafar turns familiar objects into images that feel dream-like and strange. At first resembling the interior of a tent, a feeling of enclosure is gradually introduced in Untitled (2024). Bent moon (2025) similarly transforms an ordinary street lamp into a glowing, moon-like form. In To see and not see (2025), forms move between object and face, never fully settling into a single image. At first glance, the composition appears to show two medicine tablets, but over time another image emerges: a stoic face embedded within the surface. Meanwhile, Automatism of doubts (2026) presents a circle of outstretched hands, suggesting an intimate social gathering that remains just out of view.

By bringing together these works by Majid and Zafar, Body Quotidian explores how light, material, gesture and atmosphere filters bodily experience. Moving between domestic scenes and abstraction, the exhibition reflects on the quiet, everyday moments through which the body continues to shape how we see and inhabit the world.

Body Quotidian is curated by Raja’a Khalid, Assistant Curator at Sharjah Art Foundation.

For more information about the exhibition, visit sharjahart.org. 

About Laila Majid

Laila Majid graduated from the MA Fine Art programme at the Slade School of Art (2021), and holds an MSt in Film Aesthetics from the University of Oxford (2022). Represented by Niru Ratnam, London, her work has recently been exhibited at Le Wonder, Paris (2026); Tala, Chicago (2025); Niru Ratnam, London (2024); Rose Easton, London (2022); and Fotografiska, New York (2022). In 2021, she was selected for Bloomberg New Contemporaries, South London Gallery and Firstsite, Colchester. Majid lives and works in London. 
 

About Inaam Zafar

A visual artist and a painter, Inaam Zafar’s practice coheres around a poetics of time, memory and material residue. He builds a sustained inquiry into how elements and images decay, endure and reconstitute themselves across personal and collective histories. Select solo exhibitions include The dust, too, is replete, Grey Noise, Dubai (2024); Without, Sanat Initiative, Karachi (2017); and so long as it’s grey, Rohtas II Gallery, Lahore (2015). He is represented by Grey Noise, Dubai.

About Sharjah Art Foundation

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.

About Sharjah

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.

Media Contact

Alyazeyah Al Marri    
alyazeyah@sharjahart.org
+971 (0)6 5444113