The past does not stand still. It moves through us, shaping the places we leave, the ones we return to, and the spaces we create in between. Past Through Here explores the imprints of memory, movement, and transformation, tracing not only what we remember, but how we remember. The exhibition follows the parallel currents of the conscious and the subconscious, where recollection and emotion, history and visions of the future, blur into one another.

Featuring works from the Barjeel Art Foundation’s collection, the exhibition brings together paintings, sculptures, photographs, and installations that examine the intersections of nostalgia, displacement, and aspirations for the future. Some works reflect on personal histories, others on collective experiences. Together, they suggest that memory is not linear, but layered, surfacing in unexpected forms across different moments of life.
Past Through Here is not a definitive answer but an ongoing dialogue—a place where awareness and intuition converge, where stories are pieced together from both what we know and what quietly endures beneath the surface. It is an invitation to reflect on the traces left behind and the stories that continue to unfold. It asks viewers to consider their own relationships with memory, time, and belonging: What do we keep? What do we let go of? And how do we carry the past forward into an uncertain future?

Co-organised by the Barjeel Art Foundation and Maraya Art Centre.

Co-curated by the students of the American University of Sharjah: Abdullah Al-Tekreeti, Ahnaf Abdur Rahman, Amer Ayyash, Hend Alshamsi, Jitakshara Nain, Majid Alsahlawi, Maryam Bin Bishr, Mohammed Alnunu, Mohammad Bin Turki Al Saud, Omer Elsiddig, Salma Hilal, Sultan Alsahlawi.