Traces of the Desert Light

Traces of the Desert Light is a group exhibition presented by SANAE within Design Doha Biennial 2026. It is on view in Fereej Al Asmakh, Doha, from 5 November 2026 to 31 January 2027. Tine de Beck is the curator. The works are pieces of design made in partnership: Morevi with Majdulin Nasrallah, Moss Studio with Josef Gereige, and Studio Khachatryan with Shaikha Al Sulaiti. Ayse Habibe Kucuk also takes part.

The exhibition approaches design as something felt through the senses and formed through relationships. Materials, architecture and the particular light of Doha all shape it. Light is treated here as a force at work, which across the hours of the day uncovers, softens and changes the surfaces it falls on. Visitors are asked to take their time and to meet design as atmosphere and presence instead of spectacle. Craft appears in the show as knowledge held in common, grounded in touch and in conversation between makers. The display is kept spare, and the works are arranged in response to the site. Process is given more weight than the finished product, and design is framed as a practice of sensitivity and of collaboration across cultures.

Majdulin Nasrallah, born in 1996, is a Palestinian designer, visual artist and educator based in Doha. She studied at Virginia Commonwealth University, where she took a BFA in Interior Design and an MFA in Design Studies. Her practice covers painting, textiles, designed objects and spatial interventions, and draws on memory, transitionality and displacement. Al Markhiya Gallery in Katara Cultural Village has presented her work in Silent Witnesses. Shaikha Al Sulaiti is a multidisciplinary Qatari designer based in Doha, who makes independent collections and curated collaborations. She is on the Design Doha Prize 2026 shortlist in the Craft category.

Design Doha was established by Qatar Museums. Its Director is Fahad Al Obaidly and its Artistic Director is Glenn Adamson. Its 2026 edition is centred on Fereej Al Asmakh, among the oldest neighbourhoods in Doha, where heritage houses, courtyards and sikkas serve as venues. More than fifteen exhibitions run on the same dates, and the first three days, 5 to 7 November, are the opening days.