Through a New Lens: A Walk Through World Art Dubai 2025

As I stepped into World Art Dubai 2025 for the VIP media night, the air felt electric with possibility. There’s something quietly surreal about returning to a space where you’ve once showcased your art, only this time, not as an artist, but as an observer.

I’ve exhibited at World Art Dubai before, twice, in fact, but this year, I walked in with a press badge around my neck instead of an artist’s pass; no booth to set up, no nerves, no hoping someone would stop by and take a closer look. This year, I wasn’t there to be seen. I was there to take it all in and to witness how the region’s most accessible art fair continues to grow in scale, soul, and story.

Now in its 11th edition, World Art Dubai has grown in both size and ambition. Over 400 artists. More than 120 galleries. 10,000+ artworks from over 65 countries. The stats alone make an impression, but what stood out was the diversity, not just in nationalities and techniques, but in the types of conversations the work sparked.

There were 12 country pavilions this year, and each had its own vibe. Zimbabwe was bold and expressive. Japan was minimalist and meditative. Estonia and Mongolia, both new to the fair, brought completely different energy,  quiet, considered, and surprisingly moving. You could easily spend hours just walking through those national sections and still feel like you missed something.

The Emirati Pavilion, launched for the first time this year, marked a poignant milestone for the local art scene. With fifty UAE-based artists on display.. The space hummed with pride and presence, showcasing both legacy artists and emerging names mentored through the fair’s growing Art Mentorship Programme.

As someone who’s participated in this fair before, I could feel the difference, not just in size, but in spirit. There was less formality, more openness. Less gatekeeping, more curiosity.

Curator Batool Jafri, who’s been involved with WAD since its inception, captured this evolution perfectly:

“World Art Dubai is the largest and most accessible art fair in the UAE. The best part is that it invites local and international artists from diverse backgrounds, so there’s something for everyone. I’ve been with the show since its genesis – I started out as an exhibitor and now I’m a curator. WAD is unlike any other.”

This year, it truly wasn’t like any other. For the first time in Dubai, original works by Banksy were on display - not replicas or digital projections, but real pieces salvaged from war-torn Gaza. Toxic Fuel and Running Coppers hung quietly in a corner, not for sale, not for spectacle, but simply to be marvelled at.

What I appreciated this year was how this year’s edition leaned heavily into interactivity. The Textile Hub, curated by yarn specialists Handmayk, was alive with motion: tufting, weaving, embroidery, and even fabric manipulation workshops. There were Japanese calligraphy performances, oud concerts, urban sketchers, and a surprise musical set by Irka Bochenko, yes, the former Bond girl.

There was something else quietly weaving its way through the fair: a reverence for sustainability, transformation, and second chances. As a mixed-media artist who often works with found materials, this struck a personal chord. I’ve always believed that any object, no matter how discarded, holds the potential for beauty. At WAD, that belief was mirrored in works that were repurposed, revived, and reimagined.It was great to see that approach getting the attention it deserves. Yana Rusnak, an artist from Ukraine, created stunning horse-themed pieces entirely from soda cans and old maps. She titled them Rebirth and Revived.Another standout was Masarrat Fatima, whose installation, made from coloured paper pulp and liquified paper, The Journey: Beyond Horizons was both delicate and weighty.“It speaks of risk and resilience, of losing oneself and being found again, of fear and hope carried like whispers on the wind.”Her work honoured the countless journeys made to the UAE, tracing migration, identity, and belonging through the most ephemeral of materials.What I liked most, though, was that WAD didn’t try to be something it’s not. It’s not a fair that pretends to be exclusive or elite. There’s a mix of professional and amateur, commercial and conceptual, and somehow it works. Some pieces sell for thousands, others for a few hundred dirhams. You don’t have to be a collector to show up. You don’t need an art degree to connect with something.

While I wasn’t exhibiting this time, it didn’t feel like I was on the outside looking in. If anything, stepping back helped me see it all more clearly. The energy, the chaos, and the small wins happening at each booth. I left feeling creatively recharged.

More than once, I caught myself wondering what it would feel like to return, not as media, not even as an artist, but perhaps just as a collector or someone who simply loves being surrounded by things made with meaning because that’s the real power of World Art Dubai, it reminds you that art isn’t just for galleries, collectors, or connoisseurs. It’s for everyone. The curious. The first timers. The past exhibitors and the ones still waiting for their chance.

It’s for those of us who’ve stood on both sides of the booth and know now that both perspectives offer something irreplaceable.

// Mariam Khawer