Bassam Freiha Art Foundation (BFAF) presents Seeing Ourselves, a new exhibition opening on 11 June 2026, marking the culmination of a year-long collaboration with the College of Arts and Creative Enterprises at Zayed University. Entirely student-led, the project forms part of the Foundation’s wider Summer of Culture programme, which will include artist-led workshops, talks, cultural events, and activities designed for children and families.
Developed through an artist residency led by French photographer Philip Ducap, the exhibition provided participating students with the opportunity to create original photographic works while receiving practical training across curatorial practice, graphic design, and exhibition design from the BFAF team.
Presented in the Main Gallery, Seeing Ourselves explores how cultural identity is shaped, interpreted, and reclaimed through images created from within. Conceived as a direct response to the Bassam Freiha Private Collection — largely composed of works by Western artists depicting the region from an external perspective — the exhibition shifts authorship to Emirati students, inviting them to document architecture, landscapes, and portraiture through their own experience of the UAE today. The exhibition will remain on view until 31 August 2026.
Dr Michaela Watrelot, Curator and Director of Exhibitions at Bassam Freiha Art Foundation, described the project as an expression of the Foundation’s long-standing belief in creating meaningful opportunities for emerging artists and cultural practitioners. By offering hands-on experience across exhibition making, the initiative reflects BFAF’s commitment to supporting the next generation of creative talent.
Structured as both a visual and spatial journey, the exhibition examines themes of memory, identity, human presence, and history through photography. Rather than presenting works as isolated images, Seeing Ourselves creates conversations between photographs, revealing layered perspectives on contemporary life. Relationships between people and the environments they inhabit unfold throughout the exhibition, with the spatial design guiding visitors through moments of stillness and tension.
Alongside Seeing Ourselves, the Foundation’s Annex Gallery presents Before the Silence Breaks (11 June – 11 September 2026), a photographic series by Philip Ducap. Created in parallel with his residency programme, the exhibition turns to the sea as both subject and metaphor — a landscape of constant transformation. Working across portraiture and documentary photography, Ducap reflects on nature’s scale and instability, suggesting the fragility of human certainty in comparison.
Also on view in the Main Gallery, Highlights from the Bassam Freiha Collection revisits recurring themes found within Orientalist painting of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Built over five decades, the collection spans artists from France, Italy, Russia, Austria, the United Kingdom, and the United States, reflecting the global reach and enduring fascination surrounding representations of the East.
Founded by philanthropist and collector His Excellency Bassam Said Freiha, and established as the first and only private art foundation in Saadiyat Cultural District, BFAF continues to support artists, encourage dialogue, and expand access to cultural and educational experiences across the region.
