With Tangerine Dreams, Ayyam Gallery isolates a single colour to examine how a hue can operate as a shared psychological thread across cultures, emotions and histories. At times radiant, at others contemplative, the shade becomes a vessel through which a diverse roster of artists explores memory and identity. “Orange embodies a duality between warmth and power,” explains the curator, Yasmine Al Awa. “Through this lens, the works open up a tonal shift, where colour becomes both a refuge and a way of reimagining perception.”
This lighter, introspective atmosphere is mirrored in the accompanying poetry of Roisin Kelly, whose piece Oranges serves as a literary counterpart to the visual works. It begins, “I’ll choose for myself next time / who I’ll reach out and take / as mine, in the way / I might stand at a fruit stall…” In Kelly’s verses, selecting fruit at a market stall becomes a metaphor for choosing a partner, framing love as an intuitive, tactile experience, much like cupping a ‘miniature sun’ between one’s palms.
The participating artists interpret this chromatic focus through vastly different practices, often utilising the warmth of the spectrum to counter the harsh realities of conflict. Iraqi-Palestinian artist Sama Alshaibi’s Gitmo Girl, part of her project The Bride Wears Orange, confronts the crises born from being held in a detention camp.
“In this work, the bride is draped in tangerine rather than white. The dress, tulle and roses create a ceremonial atmosphere. The bride lies face down in a pool of water, her face never visible,” Alshaibi tells MOJEH. Gitmo Girl was inspired by her reflection on the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, and how orange had come to symbolise political prisoners, detention and torture. But orange does not always have to mean distress.
“I have used hues of orange to reference revolutionary struggle, especially the political posters of the Pan-Arab era, but also to evoke cyclical nature of life, marked by each sunrise and sunset.” continues Alshaibi. “The colour also carries personal significance. My mother is from Jaffa, famous for its oranges. I grew up hearing it called the land of oranges.”
Similarly, Syrian-born multimedia artist Khaled Akil leans into the emotional power of the hue and its ability to evoke emotion. “Orange emerges from a relationship between a distant star, the world I inhabit and my own consciousness,” Akil reflects. “Yet an orange sunset can feel warm. It can carry memories, images, tears and laughter. It can make me ache for something that is absent.”
Several other artists including Berlin-based Tammam Azzam, Syrian artist Thaier Helal and UAE-based Mouteea Murad take part in the exhibition, illustrating their understanding of the star colour. By anchoring regional anxieties in media, the exhibition manifests a shift from macro-histories to deeply personal, sensory realities.
Ultimately, Tangerine Dreams, by allowing these varied approaches to co-exist, transforms the gallery into a space of discovery, inviting viewers to sit with the warmth and the weight of each piece. Tangerine Dreams will be on show at Ayyam Gallery, Alserkal Avenue, Dubai until 18 September.
Originally published in the July/August issue of MOJEH Magazine. Subscribe here
