Emirati artist Safia Al Awadhi does not see the desert as mere sand dunes or an expanse of sand. She reads it as a living being that is constantly changing, telling silent stories about the transformations taking place within a landscape. Through years of close observation of the details and aesthetics of the UAE's desert, she has rebuilt her visual relationship with it, attempting to capture what is not normally visible to the naked eye.
Safia explained that her artwork "Lines of Resistance" was born of careful observation of the shifting desert landscape. Her interest was not focused on the desert's conventional form so much as on how it is shaped and changed over time.
In the course of her research, she drew on satellite imagery dating back to 2014 to track changes in the natural landscape, and noticed how human movement had left a clear mark on the terrain — roads appearing for years and then vanishing, routes constantly shifting.
While monitoring the landscape, she paused at the transformations witnessed by desert areas following the rains of 2024, which altered the character of the place in a striking way. In the Al Qudra area, which she had been visiting regularly, she noticed that spaces that had previously been bare sand were gradually becoming greener and more alive.
She said that her curiosity drove her to visit those sites and document them herself, where she discovered that the change was not confined to vegetation alone but extended to the entire ecosystem — she observed growing numbers of gazelles and the return of life in a form different from anything she had seen before.
She noted that her artworks do not speak only about gazelles or plants as a direct subject, but raise questions about the future and how the desert might change over time, affirming that the power of the desert lies not only in its outward form but in its capacity for endurance, adaptation, and continuity.
In her works, she chose small formats to give the viewer the sense of watching those transformations as she herself lived them, while the colours were drawn from different times she spent in the desert.
She would observe how the feeling of a place changes with the light, even though the sand itself remains the same. She describes her relationship with the desert as closer to a silent dialogue — as though she were trying to listen to the place and gather its signals and small details, not to interview it but to understand it.
Her choice of aluminium as the primary material in her works was linked to the concept of the work itself. She describes it as a metal that is strong and capable of endurance while at the same time flexible and malleable — qualities she felt were in harmony with the idea she wanted to express and reflect the nature of the desert and its transformations.
She affirmed that her artistic practice is still in a state of continuous evolution, noting that among her most prominent achievements is the design of a tunnel as part of a joint initiative between the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) in Dubai and Dubai's Culture and Arts Authority.
It is a project she describes as an important milestone of pride in her career. She believes that Dubai's creative scene has offered artists not only material support but also human and personal attention, which has given her space to grow and continue.
She closes with a message to young people interested in art, affirming that the field demands perseverance and patience. Art is a difficult path, but one worth pursuing with determination, because an artist ultimately works not only for themselves but carries the responsibility of representing their community and culture.