Salama Nasib (b. Dubai, 1988) is a printmaker whose practice is intimate, meditative, and interactive. Her work explores the subject of memory and its ideas, including remembering, forgetting, and false memories. The personal struggle of holding on to precious memories has strongly influenced her practice. For her, printmaking is a meditative medium that engages the body and mind in meticulous and laborious processes, allowing space to innovate techniques and ideas. Her recent research takes images from old family photo albums to reference the past. She transitions from the past to the future using multiple layering and applications of various print techniques, including photolithography, solar printing, and blind embossing. These works also involve voice recording as an added layer to the prints, in what she describes as spoken memories. With this sound component alongside the prints, Salama creates immersive dialogues and rich sensory experiences.
Salama received an MA in Print from the Royal College of Art, London, UK, in 2018. Additionally, she was part of the inaugural Sheikha Salama bint Hamdan Emerging Artist Fellowship (SEAF), graduating in 2014. More recently, in 2019, Salama was an Artist in Residence at Dundee Contemporary Arts in Dundee, Scotland. The artist received the Augustus Martin Prize for Print and Innovation in 2018. Salama is an instructor of Visual Arts at Zayed University in Dubai.
Between 2013 and 2015, she worked full-time as Studio Coordinator at Tashkeel, liaising with clients and supporting exhibition installations. In 2015–2016, she served as Printmaker Assistant to Manal Al Dowayan for a project commissioned by the Department of Culture and Tourism (DCT) at Al Qattara Arts Centre in Al Ain. She was also an intern for the 56th International Art Exhibition at the Venice Biennale in 2015.
Salama has participated in several exhibitions in the UAE and internationally, including Time and Identity Exhibition, Al Safa Arts and Design Library, Dubai, UAE (2023); Press Print!, Aisha Alabbar Gallery, Dubai, UAE (2023); Dubai, Dundee, Tashkeel, Dubai, UAE (2019); The Magical Number Two Plus or Minus Seven, Meem Gallery, Dubai, UAE (2019); Emirati Traditional Games (commissioned by DCT), Al Qattara Arts Centre, Abu Dhabi, UAE (2018); Royal College of Art Show 2018, London, UK (2018); Mem(e)ri, RCA Dyson Gallery, London, UK (2018); Crescent/Interscent, Sagar House, London, UK (2018);
Hold Your Horses, Hold Them and Never Let Them Go, CGP Gallery, London, UK (2018); Freshly Squeezed, a group exhibition by RCA MA Print, CGP Gallery, London, UK (2017);The Woven Heritage International Miniature Printmaking Show, A4 Space, Dubai, UAE (2017); Kharareef, Sikka, Dubai, UAE (2017); Art Nomads – Made in the Emirates, Kunstquartier Bethanien, Berlin, Germany (2016); Ramadanization, Ductac, Dubai, UAE; Portrait of a Nation, ADMAF, Emirates Palace, Abu Dhabi, UAE (2016); Art: Process & Practice, Warehouse 421, Abu Dhabi, UAE (2015); Made in Tashkeel, Tashkeel, Dubai, UAE (2015); Past Forward (a traveling exhibition commissioned by the UAE Embassy and the Meridian International Center in Washington, DC), Washington, DC, Texas, Los Angeles, CA, Michigan, and Chicago, Il, USA (2014–2015); UAE Culture and Heritage, Rira Gallery, Dubai, UAE (2013);Printmaker assistant for Bob Dahm in a collaborative project with the American University of Sharjah and the Meridian International Center in Washington, DC (2013);40 Poems from the Desert, Ara Gallery, Dubai, UAE (2012); Print Exchange, The Printmaking Center of New Jersey, New Jersey, USA (2011); As The Saying Goes, Tashkeel, Dubai, UAE (2011); InPrint@HAUS, The Open Studio, Toronto, Canada (2010); Culture Days Print Show, InPrint Collective Studios, Toronto, Canada (2010); Fakie, Shelter, Dubai, UAE (2010); Portrait of a Generation, Tashkeel, Dubai, UAE (2010); Bastakiya Art Fair, Dubai, UAE (2010); and Galleria 3D, Venice Biennale, Mestre, Italy (2009).
She has also helped organize and coordinate international collaborative workshops with institutions such as AAVS, Goethe Institute, Khatt Foundation, Chelsea College of Arts, and Dubai Design District (D3).
Salama’s work is in several UAE collections, including ADMAF, Abu Dhabi; UAE Ministry of Culture and Youth, Abu Dhabi; UAE Ministry of Presidential Affairs; and Embassy of the UAE in Washington, DC.