Department of culture and tourism – abu dhabi presents rooted movements at nomad the hamptons 2026

Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates - 14 July 2026: Building on the success of NOMAD Abu Dhabi 2025, the Department of Culture and Tourism - Abu Dhabi (DCT Abu Dhabi) hosted a special exhibition in the United States in continued partnership with NOMAD. Presented at The Watermill Center during NOMAD The Hamptons 2026, Rooted Movements brought together three leading Emirati artists - Afra Al Dhaheri, Zuhoor Al Sayegh, and Azza Al Qubaisi - in a dialogue exploring connection, inheritance, and transformation.

As part of DCT Abu Dhabi's ongoing commitment to fostering cultural exchange and championing contemporary creative voices from the UAE on the international stage, the exhibition introduced audiences in the Hamptons to a new generation of Emirati artistic practices that engaged deeply with materiality, memory, and place.

Rooted Movements unfolded across the grounds of The Watermill Center, examining the connections between two coastal landscapes - Abu Dhabi and The Hamptons - and exploring how stories, materials, identities, and cultural knowledge travel across distance while remaining connected to their origins.

Though working through distinct material languages, Afra Al Dhaheri, Zuhoor Al Sayegh, and Azza Al Qubaisi each engaged with forms shaped by growth, transformation, and inheritance. Afra Al Dhaheri's suspended rope installations drew from the physical and symbolic qualities of hair: a material intimately connected to the body yet capable of being detached, transformed, and reconfigured. Zuhoor Al Sayegh's ceramic sculptures took inspiration from the life cycle of the date palm, focusing on the offshoot that separates from the mother tree in order to establish roots of its own. Through her Metaphor series, Azza Al Qubaisi abstracted forms found in the natural world, translating processes of layering, growth, and evolution into sculptural compositions that reflect on identity, memory, and place.

Together, strands, roots, offshoots, layers, and organic forms emerged as recurring motifs. Each carried the memory of an origin while extending beyond it. Separation was presented not as rupture, but as a condition for growth. The works suggested that belonging is not defined by remaining still, but by what continued to be carried forward through movement.

Across both Abu Dhabi and The Hamptons - landscapes defined by water, migration, and exchange - the exhibition reflected on the ways people carry place within themselves. It proposes that roots are not only what anchor us to where we come from, but also what enable us to move beyond it.

The presentation of Rooted Movements at NOMAD The Hamptons reflected the continued growth of the strategic partnership between DCT Abu Dhabi and NOMAD, building cultural connections between the UAE and international audiences through contemporary art and design.

The Department of Culture and Tourism - Abu Dhabi now looks ahead to welcoming visitors back to NOMAD Abu Dhabi in November 2026 for the next chapter of this ongoing dialogue between cultures, places, and creative communities.