The National, the Abu Dhabi-based newspaper, carried a profile by writer Maan Jalal on 12 October 2022, timed to a solo exhibition by Maitha Abdalla at Cromwell Place in London. The piece frames the show as a marker of the Emirati artist's growing international reach, tracing how folktales she absorbed as a child in the Gulf now surface as large-scale, theatrical paintings.
The article centres on works made in 2022 during a three-month residency in London's Soho Square, supported by the Abu Dhabi Arts & Music Foundation, including Act 2 - Confrontation - Tiled Corner, Midnight Ride and ...By The Tree. Jalal describes Abdalla's gestural, hands-on technique - she paints directly with her fingers and works fast - and her habit of turning half-remembered stories, among them one about a donkey that can see the devil, into stylised human-animal hybrids staged like scenes from a play. Abdalla is quoted: "I'm a very messy artist, I love using my hands."
The exhibition, Maitha Abdalla's INT. The Body - Sunrise, was one of her most visible solo presentations abroad and built on her representation by Tabari Artspace in Dubai. It points to her ongoing exploration of Gulf oral history across painting, sculpture and performance, work worth following as her practice moves between Emirati and international stages.
