Opening at Oblong Gallery in Al Quoz, Ancestry is the latest solo exhibition by artist Juliet Makhlouf, presenting a body of work centred on ancestry, collective memory, and the enduring cultural legacy of the Arab world.

Born in Syria in 1957, Juliet has spent more than four decades at the intersections of art, education, and cultural preservation. A graduate of the Faculty of Fine Arts, Graphic Department at the University of Damascus, she began exhibiting in the early 1980s and has since built a formidable career across the Middle East and Europe. Her practice has unfolded alongside a life dedicated to teaching – in Syria, Qatar, and the UAE – shaping generations of young artists while refining her own visual language.

Ancestry is the latest exhibition in Juliet’s prolific painting career that has included presentations at Art House, Damascus, multiple editions of the General Exhibition of Fine Arts in Sharjah (1990–1995), the group exhibition Eye of All Colors at the Alliance Française in Damascus (1996), her solo exhibition En El Paraíso Imposible at the Arabic-Syrian Cultural Center in Madrid (1998), and her first solo exhibition in Dubai at Meem Gallery (2015).

Juliet reflects, “Admiring ancestors is to pay tribute to their precious contribution that will never be erased.” The artist continues, “Despite mass destruction, their surviving works are filled with beauty, love, and meaning. Their stories have crossed all borders toward the entire humanity.”

Through Ancestry, Juliet Makhlouf depicts her forebearers not as distant figures frozen in time, but as forces of resistance whose ideas reshaped faith, belief, and shared values. In doing so, she reminds the audience that identity is not built only in the present – it is inherited, layered, and continually reimagined.

Discover Ancestry by Juliet Maklouf at Oblong Gallery, Al Quoz, Dubai from 24 January – 8 February 2026 from 11am-7pm daily. Admission is free