MONIRA AL QADIRI
SHARJAH BIENNIAL 16: TO CARRY

SHARJAH ART FOUNDATION, SHARJAH, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
6 FEBRUARY – 15 JUNE 2025

SHARJAH BIENNIAL 16: TO CARRY (SB16), launching on 6 February, unveils more than 650 works by nearly 200 participants, including more than 200 new commissions. Curated by Alia Swastika, Amal Khalaf, Megan Tamati-Quennell, Natasha Ginwala and Zeynep Öz, the Biennial convenes under the title to carry, a multivocal and open-ended proposition. Exploring the ever-expanding questions of what to carry and how to carry it, SB16 is an invitation to encounter the different formations and positions of the five curators as well as the constellation of resonances they have gathered.

Installation view Shanavas Jamaluddin © Courtesy of Sharjah Art Foundation

Monira Al Qadiris contribution, GASTROMANCER, is a monumental installation that touches upon issues of gender identity and the impact the oil industry has on marine life. The multi-sensory installation premiered in 2023 at the solo exhibition of Monira Al Qadiri at the Kunsthaus Bregenz to a high acclaim, and has been further exhibited at UCCA Dune in Beidaihe, China and the De Balie in Amsterdam under the auspices of the Hartwig Foundation.

GASTROMANCER can be experienced at the SHARJAH BIENNIAL 16: TO CARRY (SB16) that launched on 6 February 2025. Curated by Alia Swastika, Amal Khalaf, Megan Tamati-Quennell, Natasha Ginwala and Zeynep Öz, the Biennial convenes under the title TO CARRY, a multivocal and open-ended proposition and has unveiled more than 650 works by nearly 200 participants, including more than 200 new commissions. Exploring the ever-expanding questions of what to carry and how to carry it, SB16 is an invitation to encounter the different formations and positions of the five curators as well as the constellation of resonances they have gathered.

FEATURED ARTIST

MONIRA AL QADIRI
Monira Al Qadiri (b. 1983) is a Kuwaiti visual artist born in Senegal and educated in Japan. Spanning sculpture, installation, film, and performance, Al Qadiri’s multifaceted practice is based on research into the cultural histories of the Gulf region. Her interpretation of the Gulf’s so-called “petro-culture” is manifested through speculative scenarios that take inspiration from science fiction, autobiography, traditional practices, and pop culture, resulting in uncanny and covertly subversive works that destabilize mythologies of statecraft and modernization as well as traditional notions of gender. Tracing the delicate ecologies threate...
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