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Join us for a special Family Workshop at Jameel Arts Centre inspired by Bady Dalloul’s exhibition, Self-portrait with a cat I don’t have. This interactive session draws from Dalloul’s inventive approach to storytelling, memory, and the imaginative use of everyday materials.
The activities are free to attend and run all day to encourage and support creativity and imagination. Jameel Arts Centre strives to provide space for children to share stories, and to foster cultural awareness through artistic exploration that supports healthy child-development and growth.
Family Saturdays at the Jameel are suitable for all ages. All materials and step by step guides will be provided.
Children and families will be invited to explore their own stories and connections through a range of self-led activities.
Activity Breakdown
11:30AM:
- Tour of the exhibition ‘Self-portrait with a cat I don’t have’
11:00AM – 4:00PM:
Sensory Station (Ages 2–5):
- Match the Box: Fill matchboxes with different textured items, encouraging toddlers to match numbers and objects while developing sensory, numeracy, and fine motor skills.
Other Activities:
- Imaginary Lands: Create maps of imaginary countries using collage or drawing, adding landmarks from dreams or family stories. Participants can display their “maps” in a Gallery of Imaginary Lands.
- Family Portraits: Design and collage family portraits using card decks, incorporating personal symbols and favourite colours.
- Tiny Memories: Draw or fill mini matchboxes to capture small, meaningful memories or stories participants want to keep safe.
- New Dubai: Reimagine the neighbourhood by drawing and painting over archival images of Dubai, imagining alternate presents and futures.
- Real or Imagined?: Choose one historical and one cartoon character, then invent a story where their worlds meet.
- Life in a Jar: Pick a location, role, adventure, and surprise, then illustrate or write about what life might look like in that scenario.
- Collective Map:Work collaboratively to add cut-out shapes and images to a large, evolving map, building a shared story throughout the day.
About the exhibition:
Bady Dalloul’s exhibition explores storytelling, memory, and the construction of identity through a playful use of collage, drawing, and assemblage. The works intertwine personal and collective histories, drawing upon real and imagined geographies, and often reference themes of migration and belonging. Dalloul’s practice is rooted in inventing fictional countries, combining autobiographical elements with broader questions about history and cultural narratives. The exhibition invites viewers to reflect on how stories, both individual and shared, shape our understanding of self, place, and community.
About Bady:
Bady Dalloul (b. 1986) is a multimedia artist whose work entwines historical events, personal facts and fiction. His works are imbued with sociological and historical reflections on his heritage and issues of global migration. Reflecting on territorial demarcations, Dalloul questions Western-centric historiography and knowledge production. Through drawing, video and objects, Dalloul engages a dialogue between the imagined and the real by questioning the logic of writing history.
Bady Dalloul has had solo exhibitions at Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan (2025); Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, Qatar (2022); Darat al Funun, Amman, Jordan (2019).
