Between Land and Sky, Between Borders, We Meet
Between Land and Sky, Between Borders, We Meet opens on 5 December in our showroom. The opening takes place from 18:00 to 21:00.
You can visit the exhibition between 5 December 2025 and 1 February 2026. Our opening hours are Wednesday to Sunday from 14:00 – 19:00, and every first Friday of the month from 14:00 – 21:00.
How do we experience our Arab identities while living in the diaspora, caught between the inherited traditions of our parents and the imagined idea of the “Arabs”? How can we embrace the richness of our diverse cultures and let it shape our many voices? And what does it mean to be Arab, beyond language and religion? Could a border, rather than a barrier, become a bridge between different Arab communities? And how can artists of the diaspora help redefine our future narratives?
The Arab world stretches from the Mashriq to the Maghreb*, connected through the Arabic language. The new generation within the Arab diaspora often oscillates between two lenses: a traditional one, rooted in inherited practices, and an Orientalist one**, formed by Eurocentric stereotypes and biased perceptions. Both are as overwhelming as they are inaccurate, obscuring what truly connects young people in the Arab diaspora: a shared experience of living on the threshold between two worlds – balancing between Dutch and Arab, between past and present, between home and elsewhere.
This hybrid experience is centered in the exhibition Between Land and Sky, Between Borders, We Meet. Here, the visitor is encouraged to develop a unique perspective – one that reclaims and redefines Arab identities, moving beyond classical notions and contemporary political framings. Through the diverse perspectives and stories of a collective of artists living in the Netherlands and originating from West Asia and North Africa (WANA), the exhibition transcends imposed boundaries, with art as its compass. Beyond assumptions, prejudice, and inherited narratives, Between Land and Sky, Between Borders, We Meet creates a space where connection outweighs the borders that separate Arabs. One where the diaspora is no longer the subject of the story – but its storyteller.
* A geographical region extending from the Mashreq, the eastern part of the Arab world, to the Maghreb, the western part. Mashreq means “where the sun rises,” and Maghreb means “where the sun sets”.
** The Orientalist lens refers to the Western way of perceiving the ‘Orient’, referring to the term Orientalism used by Edward Said, which has been both praised and criticized. Said, Edward W. Orientalism. New York: Pantheon Books, 1978.
By:
Oudail el Omari
With:
Joelle Deeb
Saffa Khalil
Siwar Kraytem
Leila Jane Ali-Dib
Younes Chergui
Campaign image Fares Whby
Oudail el Omari is a multidisciplinary artist. He works as an actor, theatre maker, and architect. His work carries the echoes of the Arab diaspora and seeks to connect multiple themes and worlds, therefore creating a world of his own. Navigating between culture, identity, language, and geography, his work is politically engaged and reflects on social issues, questioning and challenging the status quo. He tells stories and explores in which mediums those stories can be told.
Leila Jane (1998) is a multidisciplinary artist and certified sound practitioner with Dutch and Syrian roots. With a background in performing arts, she has worked across theatre, film and television, both as an actress and talent manager. Her artistic practice blends sensory awareness with storytelling, creating spaces that invite presence, connection and an exploration of the inner and outer world.
Siwar Krai(y)tem is a multi-lingual artist, designer, and researcher based between Beirut and Amsterdam. Her research and artistic practice focuses on multilingualism and language in times of transformation. She graduated from the temporary program D.D. (Disarming Design) at the Sandberg Instituut. She was a 2023 fellow at BAK, in Utrecht, 3-package deal recipient for the year of 2024, and part of Mophradat’s New Agents program.
Saffa Khalil is an archivist and researcher. Her work explores the use of Black radical traditions and sonic practices to shape alternative archives that create, preserve, and sustain Black knowledge production.
Jowel Deeb is a Syrian photographer based in The Netherlands, Rotterdam, specialized in editorial/event photography. Her work focuses on storytelling, emotions and atmosphere, using imagery to reveal the deeper layers behind a moment or a person. Known for creating a subtle sense of mystery, Jowel’s goal is to make viewers pause, feel and think beyond the surface. Through her photographs, she brings emotions to life and invites audiences to engage with her work on a deeper, more reflective level.
Younes Chergui is an architect and designer. In 2024, he completed his Master’s in Architecture at TU Delft with a graduation project titled Borderless Connections. His work explores how architecture can serve as a tool for social transformation in divided territories. As the child of Moroccan migrants, his travels to Oujda, his family’s hometown on the closed Moroccan – Algerian border, have deeply shaped his perspective on resilience and spatial justice.