The Living Archive

The Living Archive is a solo exhibition by the Syrian artist Ahmad Tallaa at Firetti Contemporary in Alserkal Avenue, Dubai, from 21 September to 11 November 2026.

The gallery lists twenty-six works, all dated 2026. At the centre are large-scale portraits built from layers of sand collected in the UAE, chalk powder, pigments and acrylic, the largest 200 by 160 cm. "Faces do not sit on the canvas so much as emerge from within it," the gallery writes, "as though the act of painting were one of excavation rather than construction."

A tile installation of recycled wood panels carries faint facial features drawn into each surface. The gallery also describes sculptures in sleeping postures, and the works list includes five small mixed-media pieces titled Abode, Fulcrum, Stillness, The Witness and Trace. Eight small works on wood share the title Upcycling. Artist books handmade from recycled materials and raw canvas complete the display.

Tallaa was born in Damascus in 1994 and lives and works in Sharjah. He studied at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Damascus from 2012 to 2017. He received the Spring Annual Exhibition Award of the Syrian Ministry of Culture in 2017 and 2019. He works across painting, sculpture, printmaking, handmade paper and material fabrication, and also makes musical instruments by hand, including the ney. His CV lists a solo exhibition at Marsami Art Gallery, Riyadh, in 2024.

Firetti Contemporary included his work in the group exhibition The Unseen Presence in 2025. Alserkal Avenue gives the show's epigraph, from Adonis, as "I am not the one I am. I am the one I become."