The Financial Times published Nadine Khalil's article UAE becomes an incubator to help careers of local emerging artists on 21 November 2020. Khalil argues that as the UAE allowed more personal freedoms, a younger generation of local artists was seeking to work in ways not dictated by official institutions or commercial groups, informed by pioneers such as the late Hassan Sharif and Mohamed Ahmed Ibrahim.
The article cites Bait 15, an artist run studio in Abu Dhabi, as one of the first collectives to respond to the fact that artists could not rent studio space without a commercial licence. Originally the home of the self taught painter and filmmaker Mohamed Al Mazrouei, it was established in 2017 by young Emirati artists Afra Al Dhaheri, Maitha Abdalla and Hashel Al Lamki, and includes an exhibition area, a library, a residency and four studios. It had recently hosted 101, a sale platform for artists without gallery representation. Khalil then names Hashel Al Lamki as another rising artist, whose first solo exhibition, The Cup and the Saucer at Warehouse421, delved into nostalgia, pop culture, waste and the relationship between personal and collective histories, with large scale paintings and assemblages incorporating pharmaceutical boxes, pistachios, bicycle locks and hair clips. The piece also covers Office Run, Friday Market, the Institute for Emerging Art and Jameel Arts Centre's Youth Takeover.
Maitha Abdalla and Hashel Al Lamki have since exhibited internationally, from the Aichi Triennale to the Sharjah Biennial and Gwangju Biennale. Both are represented by Tabari.
