Lamya Gargash (UAE)

Lamya Gargash graduated from the American University of Sharjah in 2004, followed by a Masters degree in Arts in Communication Design from Saint Martins in the UK in 2007. She has won a number of awards for her work in film and photography. In 2004, she received first prize in the Emirates Film Festival, as well as the Ibdaa Special Jury Award for her movie titled Wet Tiles. Lamya’s first artist book, Presence, is a photographic series which documents recently vacated houses and structures in the United Arab Emirates that have been abandoned or left for demolition.

Lamya has held solo exhibitions in Italy and UAE and has participated in various group exhibitions in Canada, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Japan, and France as well as within the UAE. In 2009, she participated in the 53rd Venice Biennale as the featured artist of the UAE's first ever national pavilion, and in the 9th Sharjah Biennale. In 2014, she participated in the 15th international FotoFest Biennial in Houston, USA.