Shereen Abedalkareem: Face of the City
In her project "Face of the City," artist Shereen Abedalkareem Hassanein operates from the conviction that revitalizing the image is the most potent way to defy oblivion. Memory proves fragile against the constant shifts in the architectural landscape, where facades and functions evolve, and urban values are reshaped by time. The project serves as a visual inquiry into the past and future of a place through the lens of its present—reconstructing scenes of Gaza City from before the war to study these transformations and their impact on both spatial and human dimensions.
This body of work draws on diverse materials, including photographs of selected sites, public testimonies from local residents, field recordings, and evocations of individual and collective memory. These elements are deconstructed and reformulated through collage, video, and art installations to form narrative images with superimposed temporal layers, appearing as a single structure that bears the traces of disparate eras.
Moving beyond mere documentation, the project seeks to cultivate a conceptual space that invites the viewer to navigate between time and space, reinterpreting the architectural landscape as a living document and a visual archive. Here, architecture becomes a vessel for narrative, and the city reveals itself as a multi-layered construct: real places inhabited by imagined memories, and imagined spaces rooted in true stories. In "Face of the City," the place remains present through its image, even as its physical features change in real life.
About the artist:
Shereen Abedalkareem Hassanein (b.1996, Gaza City) is an architect and visual artist. She holds a bachelor’s degree in architecture from the Islamic University of Gaza (IUG). Her practice emerged from the intersection of architecture and fine art—a trajectory defined by self-directed research, studio experimentation, and participation in local exhibitions. This has since evolved into a contemporary visual practice centered on the mechanisms of spatial production and representation.
Shereen Abedalkareem Hassanein (b.1996, Gaza City) is an architect and visual artist. She holds a bachelor’s degree in architecture from the Islamic University of Gaza (IUG). Her practice emerged from the intersection of architecture and fine art—a trajectory defined by self-directed research, studio experimentation, and participation in local exhibitions. This has since evolved into a contemporary visual practice centered on the mechanisms of spatial production and representation.
Hassanein engages with the city and its public spaces not merely as aesthetic or decorative backdrops, but as critical arenas for questioning society, memory, and transformation. Her multidisciplinary toolkit spans drawing, sculpture, and installation to 3D spatial modeling and video art. She further employs virtual reality (VR) to dissolve the boundaries between reality and simulation, fostering a rigorous dialogue between artwork and conceptual space.
This exhibition is part of the institution’s 2026 programme of solo and group exhibitions, through which Gallery One (Level -1) is dedicated to hosting a year-long series of exhibitions and artistic experiences that foster dialogue, reflection, and artistic engagement.