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
Safa khalil
Siwar Kraytem
Leila Jane
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.