https://maysalbaik.com Mays Albaik Thu, 21 May 2026 11:12:32 +0000 https://maysalbaik.com en https://maysalbaik.com/bio Sat, 20 Oct 2018 17:01:29 +0000 Mays Albaik https://maysalbaik.com/bio Mays Albaik is a Palestinian/Syrian artist working across sculpture, installation, performance, video, and text. Her practice explores language as material, gesture, and bodily residue. It examines how speech, memory, and systems of transmission are shaped by fracture, displacement, and acts of translation. Working through processes of casting, illumination, sound, glass, and sculptural assemblage, Albaik’s recent works trace the unstable relationship between voice and form. Her process draws from linguistic studies, oral histories, cosmology, and traditions of scientific and poetic inquiry, and her practice considers how histories are carried, interrupted, or sedimented within the body. Her solo exhibition A Terranean Love Note at Tashkeel, Dubai (2021), developed under the mentorship of Lawrence Abu Hamdan and Ala Younis, established many of the conceptual inquiries that continue to shape her work. Since then, her work has been exhibited internationally at institutions including Louvre Abu Dhabi, KBH.G Foundation in Basel, Manarat Al Saadiyat, and the UAE Embassy in Brussels as part of Geopoetics of the UAE (2023). In 2026, she is participating in the Biennale di Venezia as part of the UAE National Pavilion’s exhibition Washwasha, curated by Bana Kattan. Alongside her artistic practice, Albaik has worked extensively in cultural programming and institutional development in the UAE, particularly through her role at 421 Arts Campus in Abu Dhabi, where she has overseen numerous public-facing artistic initiatives since 2020. Her writing has appeared in Future Perfect (Kaph Books), Mizna, The Outpost Magazine, A Dance Mag, and Postscript Magazine. She has presented talks and participated in panels at institutions including Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, NYU Abu Dhabi, and the College Art Association Annual Conference. She holds an MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design and a Bachelor of Architecture from the American University of Sharjah. She lives and works in Abu Dhabi. Would you like to get studio news in your inbox? These are sent very sparingly, about once a year. If so, please sign up here: Email Address * First Name Last Name https://maysalbaik.com/time-based-three-dimensional Thu, 11 Jul 2019 17:10:58 +0000 Mays Albaik https://maysalbaik.com/time-based-three-dimensional https://maysalbaik.com/two-dimensional-1 Mon, 01 Oct 2018 15:49:14 +0000 Mays Albaik https://maysalbaik.com/two-dimensional-1 https://maysalbaik.com/texts Thu, 11 Jul 2019 17:08:14 +0000 Mays Albaik https://maysalbaik.com/texts https://maysalbaik.com/Anvil-1 Thu, 11 Jul 2019 03:29:09 +0000 Mays Albaik https://maysalbaik.com/Anvil-1 <img width="7568" height="4032" width_o="7568" height_o="4032" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/deeaaf6435cd85c0674273efdb56873ad444b4c3ba4fb58c52e6bbe562b4379a/2-.jpg" data-mid="46393359" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/deeaaf6435cd85c0674273efdb56873ad444b4c3ba4fb58c52e6bbe562b4379a/2-.jpg" /> Anvil, Engraved glass sheet, light. (2019) https://maysalbaik.com/Untitled-States-of-Matter Fri, 02 Nov 2018 17:41:39 +0000 Mays Albaik https://maysalbaik.com/Untitled-States-of-Matter <img width="5815" height="3272" width_o="5815" height_o="3272" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/9094ef51c44255c4f6c35c6fa31ebba7cc413e9f8b081c6011ffc504b016d41f/DSC_0019.jpg" data-mid="28874092" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/9094ef51c44255c4f6c35c6fa31ebba7cc413e9f8b081c6011ffc504b016d41f/DSC_0019.jpg" /> Untitled (States of Matter). Print on Archival Paper. (2018) https://maysalbaik.com/Scripture Thu, 11 Jul 2019 16:23:23 +0000 Mays Albaik https://maysalbaik.com/Scripture <img width="2558" height="2550" width_o="2558" height_o="2550" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/7ef8eac157508a87bfeafd58bf58b5d7ae4e95ee2b99d9d33b1a4e3c5e73bef7/cyanotypes2.jpg" data-mid="46449273" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/7ef8eac157508a87bfeafd58bf58b5d7ae4e95ee2b99d9d33b1a4e3c5e73bef7/cyanotypes2.jpg" /> Scripture. Cyanotype Prints. 2017 https://maysalbaik.com/kuni-kay-akuna-kama-aqul-Be-so-I-may-become-what-I-say-2026 Thu, 21 May 2026 11:12:32 +0000 Mays Albaik https://maysalbaik.com/kuni-kay-akuna-kama-aqul-Be-so-I-may-become-what-I-say-2026 <img width="7038" height="4694" width_o="7038" height_o="4694" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/2d000068de39154d50b00311cb10bb169d930fd5f3d63259c3a8f906044d2f5d/2026.Washwasha.Mays-Albaik.Be--so-that-I-may-be-as-I-say.Image-courtesy-of-National-Pavilion-UAE--La-Biennale-di-Venezia.-Photo-by-Ismail-Noor-ofSeeingThings-7901.jpg" data-mid="248583982" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/2d000068de39154d50b00311cb10bb169d930fd5f3d63259c3a8f906044d2f5d/2026.Washwasha.Mays-Albaik.Be--so-that-I-may-be-as-I-say.Image-courtesy-of-National-Pavilion-UAE--La-Biennale-di-Venezia.-Photo-by-Ismail-Noor-ofSeeingThings-7901.jpg" /> <img width="7655" height="5106" width_o="7655" height_o="5106" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/fbfab14354f63d2575035ca0543acd15342e7266bd2cf512136bce526fc0eff1/2026.Washwasha.Mays-Albaik.Be--so-that-I-may-be-as-I-say.Image-courtesy-of-National-Pavilion-UAE--La-Biennale-di-Venezia.-Photo-by-Ismail-Noor-ofSeeingThings-.jpg" data-mid="248583981" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/fbfab14354f63d2575035ca0543acd15342e7266bd2cf512136bce526fc0eff1/2026.Washwasha.Mays-Albaik.Be--so-that-I-may-be-as-I-say.Image-courtesy-of-National-Pavilion-UAE--La-Biennale-di-Venezia.-Photo-by-Ismail-Noor-ofSeeingThings-.jpg" /> <img width="6807" height="4540" width_o="6807" height_o="4540" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/5aad05afda333011dceadd0edb9b0192aa0ba5a63393b1e5bf3de1e225e3f928/2026.Washwasha.Mays-Albaik.Be--so-that-I-may-be-as-I-say.Image-courtesy-of-National-Pavilion-UAE--La-Biennale-di-Venezia.-Photo-by-Ismail-Noor-ofSeeingThings-.jpg" data-mid="248583983" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/5aad05afda333011dceadd0edb9b0192aa0ba5a63393b1e5bf3de1e225e3f928/2026.Washwasha.Mays-Albaik.Be--so-that-I-may-be-as-I-say.Image-courtesy-of-National-Pavilion-UAE--La-Biennale-di-Venezia.-Photo-by-Ismail-Noor-ofSeeingThings-.jpg" /> <img width="4032" height="3024" width_o="4032" height_o="3024" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/5b4ed2778b26fe175cfcd32e102ddaf0dd2b4a17aaa490592bcf6b2f1f1cb850/IMG_4276.jpeg" data-mid="248584108" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/5b4ed2778b26fe175cfcd32e102ddaf0dd2b4a17aaa490592bcf6b2f1f1cb850/IMG_4276.jpeg" /> “kūnī kay akūna kamā aqūl!” (“Be, so I may become what I say.”) 2025 Mouth-blown glass (19 pieces) Dimensions Variable With special thanks to Karin Forslund, Jocelyne Prince, and the Rhode Island School of Design Glass Department. Commissioned by National Pavilion UAE – La Biennale di Venezia 2026.Images courtesy of National Pavilion UAE – La Biennale di Venezia. Photo by Ismail Noor of Seeing Things This installation derives from two ongoing bodies of work: Masticate (2019) and Words, Not Clouds Anymore, But Slow Rocks (2018–2025), in which Mays Albaik creates molds of the inside of her mouth at the very moment she attempts to speak. Inspired by Czech philosopher Vilém Flusser’s theory that words form before they are pronounced, Albaik attempts to catch words at the moment of their formation: “Before they are public, but after they become words.” With her mouth full of casting alginate, she is unable to articulate any sound; in capturing the word-in-formation, she simultaneously nullifies it. Yet the resulting mold becomes a permanent record of the movement of the mouth that signals the intended sound. Her work invites us to consider what is lost in the preservation of oral histories, and whether meaning can endure when language becomes object. In this new commission, Albaik presents two sets of casts made specifically for the exhibition. Ten illuminated molds hang from the ceiling in the pattern of the Pleiades (Thuraya) star cluster, each capturing the position of the mouth as it forms a fragment of the Qur’anic phrase kun fa yakun (be and it is). The Pleiades, which frequently appear in Arabic poetry, including Al Mu’allaqāt (The Suspended Odes), function historically as a celestial marker of seasons and time. Below, on a pedestal, nine mirrored glass casts form the phrase ana lughati (I am my language), reflecting their surroundings as a grounded, earthly response to the celestial command overhead. The title is drawn from a line in Mahmoud Darwish’s poem A Rhyme for the Odes , in which the poet contemplates the deep entanglement between language and being. According to Albaik: “Through the interplay of light, reflection, and breath, the work meditates on the relationship between body and language, creation and articulation, where speech becomes form and glass becomes the fragile threshold between being and saying.” https://maysalbaik.com/Rakkaza-2023 Sat, 13 Jan 2024 07:29:51 +0000 Mays Albaik https://maysalbaik.com/Rakkaza-2023 <img width="960" height="1439" width_o="960" height_o="1439" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/01c7819e3c0da38198968c412c69ea52101e706b1135a99f6cd9f25fd4fdcd05/_02A20191.jpg" data-mid="201622684" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/960/i/01c7819e3c0da38198968c412c69ea52101e706b1135a99f6cd9f25fd4fdcd05/_02A20191.jpg" /> <img width="960" height="1439" width_o="960" height_o="1439" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/f0e8f55e4cbb3cf7e4eea94d51454c180b10272624c379ffe196dbc0f185dbfd/_02A1322-Bearbeitet.jpg" data-mid="201622683" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/960/i/f0e8f55e4cbb3cf7e4eea94d51454c180b10272624c379ffe196dbc0f185dbfd/_02A1322-Bearbeitet.jpg" /> Rakkaza, 2023. In Collaboration with Asma Belhammar. Video sculpture with 2-channel video &amp; 4-channel audio. Dimensions variable.&nbsp; Audio by sound artist Tarek Barraj. Commissioned by Kulturestiftung Basel H. Geiger for the exhibition Evaporating Suns, curated by Dirwaza Curatorial Lab Rakkaza is a public interactive installation that invokes a direct confrontation between the current sky in the planet’s current location and the sky when the planet was on the opposite side of the sun. The name derives from an Arabic riddle that hints towards the Sun as a mirrored disk anchored in the sea and calibrated within its reflection axis. Referencing a Recipe for Making A Human by 8th Century Muslim Polymath Jabir Ibn Hayyan, the artists Asma Belhamar &amp; Mays Albaik explore the connection between creation and place via studying and recording the planetary relationship to the sun and the repetition of the rotation around it. The rotation displayed and the new realm created become one of the most vital parts of creation from the ingredients studied in the recipe. The piece departs from exploring the details of the recipe, creating a parallel realm and a reinterpretation of its elements. It examines the spectrum of human-made vs nature-made and questions the physicality of time and the existence beyond the body’s physical experience. From a planetary scale to a personal scale, the artists reflect on the idea of place being a significant marker to personhood in a time when physical mobility is being confronted with digital mobility, and its current presence as a second-nature. The space created, introduces a new realm where time and place are examined beyond the physicality of their presence, non-bound by a definition and non-calibrated by a single cycle. https://maysalbaik.com/Awaiting-Weightlessness-2022 Mon, 30 Jan 2023 10:08:09 +0000 Mays Albaik https://maysalbaik.com/Awaiting-Weightlessness-2022 <img width="1920" height="1280" width_o="1920" height_o="1280" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/113751d150408f2edfea1f52b388bdfff2a5cef9a465925d537a73bc87717106/richard-mille-lourve-gq-middle-east-cover-1.jpg" data-mid="166597197" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/113751d150408f2edfea1f52b388bdfff2a5cef9a465925d537a73bc87717106/richard-mille-lourve-gq-middle-east-cover-1.jpg" /> <img width="6000" height="4500" width_o="6000" height_o="4500" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/e598bafaaf50e3b71bfe090f67d1371712f73e7ad6c6f4ae28df64a3be836f39/_DSF0312.jpg" data-mid="166597196" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/e598bafaaf50e3b71bfe090f67d1371712f73e7ad6c6f4ae28df64a3be836f39/_DSF0312.jpg" /> <img width="6000" height="4500" width_o="6000" height_o="4500" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/e132550f0552b0d5726ba5fef10e714a4774eb59002f4cdeba3b0045c59709dc/_DSF0576.jpg" data-mid="166597198" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/e132550f0552b0d5726ba5fef10e714a4774eb59002f4cdeba3b0045c59709dc/_DSF0576.jpg" /> Awaiting Weightlessness, 2021. Three Channel Video Installation. Variable Dimensions. Commissioned by The Louvre Abu Dhabi. Images courtesy of The Louvre Abu Dhabi In Awaiting Weightlessness (Abu Dhabi, 2021) she examines these issues through the phenomenon of waiting. Three video essays running at three different temporalities create an effect of resonance and dissonance which highlights the body’s experience of space and time. Placed in a state of waiting, the viewer’s linear sense of past, present and future unravels and becomes circular. As time becomes plastic and poetic, space expands and becomes elastic. Gradually, we are made aware of the invisible structures mediating the seemingly intimate relation between figure and ground. Ultimately, we become conscious of how our bodies occupy space through time and how time animates space through our bodies. More on this piece:&nbsp;https://www.louvreabudhabi.ae/en/Explore/art-here-2021/mays-albaik