In the face of rising regional conflict, the UAE's arts community has remained resilient.
As Iranian missiles and drones have been intercepted over parts of the country since Saturday, many are using their art to keep spirits high, with performers continuing to take to the stage.
Ukrainian singer Allexa Bash, who has lived in the UAE for eight years and recently brought her mother over from her homeland, says her experiences have informed her response.
“I’m familiar with the stress of conflict and uncertainty,” she says. “The UAE has done an amazing job in how things are being handled and made as calm as they could possibly be.”
Iranian artists, meanwhile, are grappling not only with geopolitical shock waves but with decades of personal history.
For creatives inside Iran and throughout the diaspora, the escalation has prompted a mix of relief, fear, guilt and fragile hope.
Ashkan Zahraei, a writer and the curator of Dastan Gallery in Tehran, says the military action runs counter to years of effort by Iranian artists to sustain cultural dialogue beyond politics.
“It’s so sad to see politicians trying to break down the bridges we have been working to maintain across cultural landscapes,” he tells The National from Tehran. “But we keep having faith in the timeless message of art, its resilience and its power to establish mutual friendships and understandings.”
In Dubai, where a large Iranian community has built businesses, galleries and studios over decades, the emotional landscape is somewhat different.
Sahar Ghavami, an Iranian artist currently exhibiting a solo show at FN Designs in Alserkal Avenue, describes the past days as a collision of long-held trauma and unexpected possibility.
“My whole life I had to feel shame when telling people I’m Iranian,” she says. “They would first relate me to the regime and be scared. I want people to understand that Iranians are brave fighters and have been living under this for almost 50 years. We are not the regime.”
For Iranian creatives, the crisis has once again blurred the boundary between art and politics.
Yet, as Zahraei suggests from Tehran, the belief in art as a connective force persists – even as the region around it is rocked by instability.
Syrian Ramadan series on Assad-era prisons ignites backlash
Syria’s first Ramadan television season since the fall of Bashar Al Assad in December 2024 has unfolded under unusual scrutiny, as producers test the boundaries in a newly altered political landscape.
Few series have done so more forcefully – or more controversially – than Caesar: No Place, No Time, also distributed as Devil’s Prisons. Directed by Mustafa Safwan Naamo and described as “inspired by true stories”, the production draws on testimonies from detention centres during the Assad era.
The show arrived as one of the season’s most prominent titles. Within days of its premiere, however, it had become the subject of a mounting public backlash.
Muhammad Al Douri, who lost his father in Sednaya Prison, tells The National: “I watched the trailers and my heart broke when I saw the video of the detainees being abused. We don’t even have justice yet, or closure, so why are we having to see this on our screens?”
Find more here.
The A to Z of Ramadan, from adhan to zakat
Ramadan is the holiest time of year for the estimated two billion Muslims in the world.
Yes, it's a time for fasting, but its purpose and delights are about much more, and are much richer than simply abstaining from water and meals between sunrise and sunset.
The annual event, which is said to be the month in which the Quran was revealed to the Prophet Mohammed, is as much a time for charity, family and reflection.
Here, The National's staff put together an A to Z of all things Ramadan, getting to the heart of what this special time of year is all about.
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