Artist Statement 
My steps become heavy as I maneuver through my circles engaging in realties around me. I take note of words in my periphery. They stay in my mouth, swishing around my tongue. I spit some and sallow others. I am told I am bold for adorning myself with color. I contemplate this—it is an essence of my lightness countering the day. My work is an extension of this notetaking. Ideas that stay in my mouth find a way out through a pen, a brush, a movement.
Biography
Fatema Al Fardan is an interdisciplinary artist based in Abu Dhabi. She currently explores the intersections between public/private, fiction/biography, hierarchy/resistance and absurd/quotidian. Al Fardan was selected for the Artist Residency program at the Cultural Foundation Abu Dhabi (2022-23), the Salama bint Hamdan Emerging Artists Fellowship (2021-22) and the Warehouse421 x Gulf Photo Plus Artistic Development Program (2020-21). Her work has been exhibited locally and internationally most recently in A Return to the Ground (Tokyo, 2023). She won the collaborative Zachary Doss Friends in Letters Memorial Fellowship (2020). Al Fardan likes to hear stories more than she likes to tell them.
Vocational Development and Residences
Cultural Foundation Art Residency
Jul 2022 - Mar 2023
Salama bint Hamdan Emerging Artists Fellowship (SEAF)
Mar 2021 - Jan 2022
Warehouse421 x Gulf Photo Plus Artistic Development Program
Feb 2020 - Feb 2021
Exhibitions
A Return to the Ground عودةٌ إلى الجذور ルーツへの回帰
2023 - Group Exhibition - Curated by Dirwaza Curatorial Lab - Tokyo - Japan
Hathee Ana هذه أنا
2023 - Group Exhibition - Curated by Khaleeji Art Museum - Women's Pavilion, Expo City - Dubai
Evaporating Suns: Contemporary Myths from the Arabian Gulf شموس متبخرة
2023 - Group Exhibition - Curated by Dirwaza Curatorial Lab - Kulturstiftung Basel H. Geiger - Basel - Switzerland
I, View
2023 - Group Exhibition - Curated by Alya Alawadhi and Vivi Zhu - Manarat Al Saadiyat - Abu Dhabi 
50 Years of Cool ٥٠ عاماً من التبريد
2023 - Group Exhibition - MiZa - Abu Dhabi
Hekayah | The Story
2022 - Performance - The Arts Center at NYU Abu Dhabi - Abu Dhabi
Our Time, Even in Dreams حاضرنا كما في الأحلام Notre temps, même en rêves
2022 - Contemporary Art Festival - Curated by Karim Sultan - Billboard & Avenue Habib Bourguiba - Jaou Tunis - Tunis
Al Raheel | Departure
2022 - Projection - Contemporary Performance - The Arts Center - Abu Dhabi
While the Coffee Grounds Settle: Stories from Women in the UAE
2022 - Group exhibition - Curated by Dirwaza Curatorial Lab - Fathom Gallery - Washington DC - USA
EYE/VIEW x REX Box III 
2022 - Group Exhibition - Curated by Gyo Yoon - Kino REX Bern - Bern - Switzerland 
EYE – VIEW
2022 - Group exhibition - e-billboard, Congress Center Basel - Basel - Switzerland
Mina Zayed: Reflections on Past Futures
2021 - Group exhibition - Warehouse421 - Abu Dhabi
In Response to Solastalgia
2021 - Group exhibition - Curated by Anna Bernice - Maisan15 - Dubai
Emirati Womanhood
2021 - Group exhibition - Khaleeji Art Museum - Dubai
Art in Isolation: Creativity in the Time of Covid-19
2020/21 - Group exhibition - Curated by Laila Abdul-Hadi Jadallah - The MEI's Art Gallery - Washington DC - USA
The Let Out II
2020 - Virtual Album - Presented by  ILL DOOTS - USA
Al Raheel | Departure
2020 - Projection Designer - Contemporary theater - The Arts Center - Abu Dhabi
between the three of us
2020 - Solo thesis exhibition - Online
Live Video Performance
2019 - Group exhibition - Made in NY Media Center - New York City - USA
Publications
Deconstructing Um Al Khathar wa Al Leaf, Evaporating Suns exhibition catalogue, 2023. Essay. Co-authored with Zuhoor Al Sayegh.
Guidebook to Pandemia, Heavy Feather Review, Zachary Doss Friends in Letters Memorial Fellowship, 2020, Winner. Visual poetry.
Her Sunny Disposition, Airpot Road, 2019. Photograph.
A Manifesto, Airport Road, 2018. Poetry.
Facilitating & Speaking
Sensory Explorations Trip: Neon Light Photo Tour, Photo Walk, 2023, Cultural Foundation Abu Dhabi
Critical Response Process, Workshop, 2023, The Salama bint Hamdan Emerging Artists Fellowship, Abu Dhabi
List it Out: An Experimental Writing Workshop صناعة القائمة: ورشة كتابة تجريبية, Workshop, 421, Abu Dhabi
Photos of Home, Workshop, 2021, Gulf Photo Plus x Alserkal Avenue, Dubai
#24images24hours, Instagram Takeover, Gulf Photo Plus
Critical Response Process, Workshop, 2021, SEAF, Abu Dhabi
Reflections on Institutions and Critique: The Case of Mina Zayed, Podcast, 2021, Warehouse421
PRESS