Fatma Lootah:
Under The Ghaf Tree
Where Everything Belongs
Under The Ghaf Tree
Where Everything Belongs
RARARES Gallery, Zone C, Gate Avenue, DIFC
On Display: 11 May - 10 Sep 2026
RARARES Gallery is thrilled to present the solo exhibition Under the Ghaf Tree. Where Everything Belongs by Fatma Lootah. The project brings together a selection of the artist’s paintings from a single body of work created in 2019, reflecting on land, memory, belonging in relation to the natural and cultural landscape of the United Arab Emirates.
The exhibition centers on Fatma Lootah’s Ghaf Tree series, created in 2019, coinciding with the UAE’s Year of Tolerance, when the ghaf tree was designated as a national symbol. Emerging from blurred, indistinct desert landscapes, the ghaf, the national tree of the United Arab Emirates, appears as an image of resilience shaped by the conditions it inhabits. Long associated with life in the desert, it has historically provided shade and sustenance to Bedouin communities.
In Lootah’s paintings, the ghaf appears as a layered image, at once tied to national identity and carrying broader associations of belonging, linking the present to deeper historical and ancestral ideas. The series also includes paintings of Emirati women, shown in groups as collective presences connected to place through dress, gesture, and shared cultural features.
The exhibition traces a cycle in which human life coexists with the natural environment within the same continuum, where everything emerges from and returns to the earth.
The exhibition centers on Fatma Lootah’s Ghaf Tree series, created in 2019, coinciding with the UAE’s Year of Tolerance, when the ghaf tree was designated as a national symbol. Emerging from blurred, indistinct desert landscapes, the ghaf, the national tree of the United Arab Emirates, appears as an image of resilience shaped by the conditions it inhabits. Long associated with life in the desert, it has historically provided shade and sustenance to Bedouin communities.
In Lootah’s paintings, the ghaf appears as a layered image, at once tied to national identity and carrying broader associations of belonging, linking the present to deeper historical and ancestral ideas. The series also includes paintings of Emirati women, shown in groups as collective presences connected to place through dress, gesture, and shared cultural features.
The exhibition traces a cycle in which human life coexists with the natural environment within the same continuum, where everything emerges from and returns to the earth.
Fatma Lootah:
Under The Ghaf Tree
Where Everything Belongs
Under The Ghaf Tree
Where Everything Belongs
RARARES Gallery, Zone C, Gate Avenue, DIFC
On Display: 11 May - 10 Sep 2026
RARARES Gallery is thrilled to present the solo exhibition Under the Ghaf Tree. Where Everything Belongs by Fatma Lootah. The project brings together a selection of the artist’s paintings from a single body of work created in 2019, reflecting on land, memory, belonging in relation to the natural and cultural landscape of the United Arab Emirates.
The exhibition centers on Fatma Lootah’s Ghaf Tree series, created in 2019, coinciding with the UAE’s Year of Tolerance, when the ghaf tree was designated as a national symbol. Emerging from blurred, indistinct desert landscapes, the ghaf, the national tree of the United Arab Emirates, appears as an image of resilience shaped by the conditions it inhabits. Long associated with life in the desert, it has historically provided shade and sustenance to Bedouin communities.
In Lootah’s paintings, the ghaf appears as a layered image, at once tied to national identity and carrying broader associations of belonging, linking the present to deeper historical and ancestral ideas. The series also includes paintings of Emirati women, shown in groups as collective presences connected to place through dress, gesture, and shared cultural features.
The exhibition traces a cycle in which human life coexists with the natural environment within the same continuum, where everything emerges from and returns to the earth.
The exhibition centers on Fatma Lootah’s Ghaf Tree series, created in 2019, coinciding with the UAE’s Year of Tolerance, when the ghaf tree was designated as a national symbol. Emerging from blurred, indistinct desert landscapes, the ghaf, the national tree of the United Arab Emirates, appears as an image of resilience shaped by the conditions it inhabits. Long associated with life in the desert, it has historically provided shade and sustenance to Bedouin communities.
In Lootah’s paintings, the ghaf appears as a layered image, at once tied to national identity and carrying broader associations of belonging, linking the present to deeper historical and ancestral ideas. The series also includes paintings of Emirati women, shown in groups as collective presences connected to place through dress, gesture, and shared cultural features.
The exhibition traces a cycle in which human life coexists with the natural environment within the same continuum, where everything emerges from and returns to the earth.
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