As part of NYUAD’s annual Ramadaniyyat Festival, and in connection with ‘the only constant’ exhibition, The Art Gallery presents a workshop on healing and medicinal practices, both historical and contemporary, in an artistic context.

Suhoor and refreshments will be offered.

This workshop is organized as part of Ramadaniyyat, a diverse, week-long series of events ranging from live talks to performances and exhibition tours at NYU Abu Dhabi. The program will be hosted jointly by NYUAD’s three public-facing institutions: The Arts Center, The Art Gallery, and The Institute.

In this workshop led by artist and curator Zuhoor Al Sayegh, participants will explore natural healing processes passed down throughout generations, using plants and herbs often sold at Hakeem (Arabic for ‘wise’ and ‘healer’) spice shops that are ubiquitous in the UAE. There is an urgency to document these practices as the passing down of knowledge from elder generations becomes less common. Al Sayegh will draw from her own experiences and knowledge from her parents and grandparents, and will invite participants to create space to explore their own personal histories with medicinal practices. Combining oral history, shared by participants, with books on Andalusian plant medicine from the NYUAD library, the group will be invited to document, imagine, write, and research recipes that can be relevant and accessible to us today.

Zuhoor Al Sayegh earned her BFA at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2019. Trained as an interdisciplinary artist, Al Sayegh has shown her work internationally, including at ACRE Projects and the Textile Arts Center (both US), as well as the Jameel Arts Centre, 421, Tashkeel, and Bait Al Mamzar (all UAE). She has received the Sheikha Salama bint Hamdan Emerging Artists Fellowship (SEAF) and has participated in a residency program at the Textile Art Center in New York. Currently, Al Sayegh is Assistant Curator at the Cultural Foundation – Abu Dhabi. In her practice, she finds inspiration in movement, and her research revolves around indigenous textile practices and the decolonization of her craft using fiber, sculpture, and mixed media.