The Fifth Wife brought together artists from across the MENA region in a group exhibition exploring how folklore, collective memory, and inherited narratives transform under the pressures of modernity. Curated by Ali Cha'aban, Celine Azem, and Mara Firetti, the exhibition used the fictional figure of the “fifth wife” as a symbolic framework through which artists examined mythology, identity, and cultural transmission.
Featuring artists including Salmah Almansoori, Sawsan Al Bahar, Jason Seife, Khalid Zahid, Ghaleb Hawila, Aidha Badr, and ARE Studio, the exhibition explored both personal and collective mythologies through painting, sculpture, installation, and design. The works reflected on the instability of cultural memory, the mutation of traditions over time, and the psychological impact of dominant narratives and inherited histories.
The exhibition positioned mythology not as something fixed in the past, but as an evolving structure continuously reshaped by migration, conflict, generational exchange, and contemporary life. Through layered visual languages and material experimentation, The Fifth Wife examined how stories, rituals, and symbols survive, fracture, and re-emerge within present-day society.
