Efie Gallery’s new Alserkal space opens with María Magdalena Campos-Pons’ SWANA debut

In April 2025, Efie Gallery opens  the doors to its new 4,400 sq. ft. permanent home at Alserkal Avenue with a landmark solo exhibition by Cuban artist María Magdalena Campos-Pons. Titled I Am Soil. My Tears Are Water, the exhibition marks the artist’s first in the Middle East and inaugurates a new chapter for the family-run gallery, known for its considered approach to showcasing artists of African origin and the global diaspora.

Designed in collaboration with Dubai-based architect Suhaira Yousif, the new two-story space quietly asserts itself with an architectural language of concrete, wood, and steel—materials chosen to evoke both the gallery’s African ethos and the industrial roots of Alserkal’s cultural district. Speaking about the design, gallery co-founder and director Kwame Mintah notes, “We wanted to create a space that is open, grounded, and inviting. The raw materiality speaks to both our origins and to the spirit of Alserkal—where heritage and contemporary dialogue naturally intersect.”

At the centre of this carefully calibrated opening is María Magdalena Campos-Pons’ multidisciplinary exhibition, curated by Faridah Folawiyo. Spanning painting, sculpture, installation, and sound, the show explores the entanglements of nature, memory, and diaspora through flora native to Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa. “These plants—hibiscus, sugarcane, guava—reflect the multiplicity of my identity,” Campos-Pons explains. “They act as insurgent forces, carrying cultural memory across borders. They entangle the botanical with the political, the aesthetic with the spiritual.”

A reimagining of her pivotal sculptural work Sugar/Bittersweet anchors the exhibition, this time realised as a site-specific installation incorporating traditional West African stools, antique spears sourced from UAE collections, and hand-blown sugar-infused glass. “Sugarcane is both metaphor and medium,” says the artist. “It holds within it the echoes of forced labour and migration, but also of resistance and transformation.”

The exhibition is further animated by a soundscape created in collaboration with musician and creative partner Kamaal Malak. “We approached the exhibition as a journey,” says Campos-Pons. “Kamaal’s sound work builds a resonant undercurrent—layered with memory, geography, ritual.” Malak describes the composition as integrating healing frequencies and ambient sounds designed to immerse visitors into an environment where visual and sonic languages coalesce. “Our goal was to create an experience that is not just seen, but felt—one that invites pause, reflection, and recognition,” he adds.

Efie Gallery’s move to Alserkal Avenue signals a deepened commitment to advancing contemporary African narratives within a broader regional and global framework. “This expansion is more than a physical relocation,” says Kwame Mintah. “It’s about creating meaningful dialogue—placing artists of African origin in conversation with the Middle East and the wider diaspora.”

The gallery’s hybrid curatorial model also continues through the Rekord Gallery, a permanent listening room lined with over 2,000 rare vinyl and shellac records, inviting sonic exploration alongside visual art. “Music plays an essential role in our programme,” Mintah reflects. “It is an accessible form that invites new audiences and deepens engagement.”

Looking ahead, the gallery will present time heals, just not quick enough…, a photography and film exhibition featuring artists including Sumayah Fallatah, Samuel Fosso, and Abeer Sultan. “We are actively facilitating conversations around diaspora and identity across geographies,” says Mintah. “Through our exhibitions and residencies, we hope to provide a space for collaboration and care.”

Campos-Pons’ own reflections on presenting in the region speak to this ethos of mutual recognition. “When I heard local singers in the UAE, I was overwhelmed—they sounded like the songs of Matanzas. That moment reminded me that cultural transmission often moves in waves, some silent, but deeply felt. I hope visitors find something of themselves in my work, just as I did in those voices.”