Dubai-based Malaysian artist draws inspiration from temporary musollas found across the city to create paintings, drawings and architectural forms exploring migration, memory and belonging
Tashkeel presents Provisional Sanctuaries, a new solo exhibition by Dubai-based Malaysian artist and designer Shamin Sharum, examining the modest, often temporary prayer spaces woven quietly into the UAE’s urban landscape.
Opened at 6pm on Friday 23 October at Tashkeel, Nad Al Sheba, and running until 27 November 2026, the exhibition looks beyond the monumental architecture typically associated with places of worship to focus instead on the small musollas found inside warehouses, shopfronts, industrial areas, temporary cabins and workplaces.
For Shamin, these spaces became particularly significant after he relocated to Dubai. During his first days in the city, encountering a small musolla within a transient urban setting offered an unexpected sense of familiarity at a time when he felt like an outsider. That personal experience became the starting point for a wider investigation into how temporary architecture can provide refuge, recognition and a sense of belonging within a city shaped by migration and continual change.
Rather than documenting the spaces literally, Shamin uses painting, drawing, architectural maquettes and axonometric studies to isolate the details that give these prayer rooms their distinctive character. Improvised minarets, hand-painted signage, makeshift ablution areas, prayer mats and ordinary objects become traces of the communities that briefly occupy these environments before returning to their daily routines.
The resulting works explore a question central to Shamin’s practice: how can an ordinary or temporary space become a place of emotional and collective significance?
“When I moved to Dubai, I was a stranger here. But stumbling into one of these little musollas in my first week felt like meeting a relative in a crowd,” Shamin Sharum said. “In that small, makeshift space, I found an unexpected sense of familiarity and calm, which softened the feeling of being an outsider. I became interested in how these modest prayer spaces, despite their temporary nature, can offer a sense of refuge and connection. Each has its own character, shaped by improvised architectural details, colours and the practical needs of the people who use it. Yet these visual cues resonate across different communities, connecting strangers through shared rituals and cultural memory. That recognition, even in an unfamiliar place, became the starting point for this body of work.”
An architecture of belonging:
Unlike permanent mosques, the musollas at the centre of Provisional Sanctuaries often exist according to immediate need. They may emerge within a workplace or temporary structure and disappear when the surrounding environment changes. For Shamin, this impermanence reflects the experience of many of the communities that use them and creates a parallel between physical transience and the broader experience of living away from home.
At the same time, the spaces carry recognisable cultural cues. Shamin observes that architectural gestures, colours, signage and improvised forms found in UAE musollas can resonate with Muslim communities from South and Southeast Asia, allowing familiarity to travel across geography.
Throughout the exhibition, human presence is suggested rather than depicted. A shelf holding books and water bottles, the arrangement of mats, a Quran stand or a slightly uneven sign becomes evidence of the people who have moved through the space. Shamin describes these details as a form of social memory, where people remain present through the objects and traces they leave behind.
His architectural background is also central to the exhibition. Shamin trained in architecture at Universiti Teknologi MARA in Malaysia and the University of Greenwich in the UK, and his practice continues to examine cities, materials and the psychological relationship between people and built environments.
Shamin was selected for Tashkeel’s 2024 Critical Practice Programme, through which he continued to develop his multidisciplinary artistic practice in Dubai.
“Provisional Sanctuaries draws attention to an element of the UAE’s urban landscape that many of us encounter without necessarily stopping to consider. Shamin approaches these spaces through architecture, memory and lived experience, revealing how something temporary and modest can become deeply meaningful through repeated use, ritual and community. His development through the Critical Practice Programme reflects Tashkeel’s commitment to giving UAE-based artists the time, mentorship and space to investigate ideas that emerge directly from the environment around them.” said Bakhita Ghanim General Manager at Tashkeel.
From architecture to memory:
Shamin’s treatment of the musolla deliberately moves away from conventional architectural documentation. Perspectives are flattened, structures are reconstructed from memory and familiar forms are reduced to their most recognisable elements.
His small models draw from improvised minarets, domes and other architectural gestures observed on temporary musollas. One maquette recalls the first prayer space Shamin encountered in Dubai, which was later demolished during renovations. With little documentation of the original structure remaining, the work becomes both an architectural study and an act of remembering.
Elsewhere, graphite drawings strip the structures of colour and context, while axonometric works unfold prayer rooms almost like boxes, revealing walls, doors, mats and overlooked surfaces simultaneously. Together, the works move between observation and recollection, reflecting Shamin’s interest in the way memory simplifies, edits and reconstructs physical environments.
Ultimately, Provisional Sanctuaries asks audiences to reconsider the architecture they may pass every day without noticing, and how temporary environments can generate lasting feelings of familiarity, collective presence and belonging.
“I want the show to feel like a whispered conversation between strangers who somehow recognise each other,” Shamin said. “If they walk away with a heightened sensitivity to everyday spiritual architecture, the quiet, overlooked, improvised kind, then the work has done its job.”
Members of the public, media and the arts community are invited to attend the opening of Provisional Sanctuaries on Friday 23 October from 6pm at Tashkeel, Nad Al Sheba.
About The Artist:
Shamin Sharum b. 1987 is a Malaysian artist and designer based in Dubai whose practice is informed by his architectural background. He holds a Master of Architecture from the University of Greenwich and a Bachelor of Science in Architecture from Universiti Teknologi MARA in Malaysia.
His work examines memory, everyday environments and the ways urban transformation influences how people experience and understand space. His practice frequently addresses collective memory, cultural traces and overlooked fragments of city life, informed by his experiences living and working across Malaysia and the UAE.
Shamin has exhibited at institutions including the National Art Gallery of Malaysia, ILHAM Gallery and TAKSU Gallery in Malaysia; M+ HKU in Hong Kong; the National Design Centre in Singapore; and the Biennale Internationale Design Saint-Étienne in France. He was part of Tashkeel’s 2024 Critical Practice Programme and is currently based in Dubai.
About Tashkeel:
Tashkeel is a commercial consultancy with studios for visual art and design rooted in the United Arab Emirates. Established in Dubai in 2008 by Sheikha Lateefa bint Maktoum bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Tashkeel’s facilities enable production, experimentation and discourse. Its annual programme of training, residencies, workshops, talks, exhibitions, international collaborations and publications aims to further practitioner development, public engagement and lifelong learning. Its commercial services seek to embed UAE-made art and design in the very fabric of society and the economy. By nurturing the growth of contemporary art and design, Tashkeel seeks to empower the country’s ever-growing creative and cultural industries. A commercial consultancy called Tasmeem Tashkeel is also part of the Tashkeel ecosystem, offering services such as advisory, sales, design and production services, and special projects for a wide range of clients.
Tashkeel Membership is a members-only club for artists, designers, and creative professionals who have access to communal specialist studios and the ability to rent a private space within the Tashkeel building. Tashkeel gives creatives the opportunity to develop their practice in a supportive, multidisciplinary environment. Membership is open to individuals at various stages in their careers, offering high-quality equipment and a mixed-talent community of makers. By becoming a Tashkeel member, creatives gain opportunities to develop their skills or to work on building their business in the creative industry.
Members can take part in skills-building workshops, critiques, and networking events, whether working independently or in collaboration with others. Whether exploring fine art, printmaking, textile-based work, analogue or digital photography, sculpture, or design fabrication and prototyping, Tashkeel provides the resources and space to turn ideas into reality. With flexible packages and professional development support, Tashkeel Membership offers more than just a workspace; it offers a network and a place for growth, experimentation, and connection within the UAE’s creative landscape.
Tashkeel’s private programming initiatives include: Tanween, which takes a cohort of UAE-based designers through a one-year skills development programme, taking a product inspired by the UAE from concept to completion; Critical Practice Programme, which invites visual artists to embark on a one-year skills development programme of studio practice, mentorship and training, culminating in a major solo presentation; Residencies at Tashkeel or abroad, ranging in duration and often in partnership with international partners; Make Works UAE, an online platform connecting creatives and fabricators to give designers and artists accurate and efficient access to the UAE manufacturing sector; Exhibitions & Fairs to highlight innovation and excellence, growing audiences for art and design in the UAE.
