🦪 🇦🇪 Farah Al Qasimi, an Abu Dhabi-based designer and artist, has created an installation of giant rainbow oysters on the seashore, a sonic ode to the sea

🦪 🇦🇪 Farah Al Qasimi, an Abu Dhabi-based designer and artist, has created an installation of giant rainbow oysters on the seashore, a sonic ode to the sea.
Farah Al Qasimi has named it Homesick. The cluster of iridescent oyster shells echoes with the hum of longing along the Abu Dhabi waterfront.
The oysters are made from machined aluminum, coated in shimmering paint, and create a soundscape that evokes the ingrained relationship between the Gulf people and their waters. “Homesick honors the pearl diving tradition that has shaped the economic and cultural landscape of the Emirates,” says the artist.
Speakers embedded in each pearl emit a soothing five-channel composition that conveys songs of longing, reimagining the traditional chant sung by pearl divers’ wives to wish for a safe return home.
The sculpture is one of more than 50 interventions scattered across the Emirates.
The soundscape is inspired by Tob, Tob Ya Bahar, a traditional song sung by women who waited for the safe return of sailors and divers. It begins with a simple harmony of five individual voices that gradually and gently transform into a more synthetic, spatial chorus that evokes “fog, buoys bobbing on the waves, and call-and-response chants,” as Farah Al Qasimi notes.
The physical and auditory sculpture humanizes the pearls, which, having lost their other shell halves, sing songs of longing while remaining rooted in the sand.
“I grew up spending a lot of time on the Corniche, so it was great to see the work there and see how people were engaging with it. Some would sit in the middle and meditate, while others would draw their names in the sand.”
These spontaneous interactions echo the theme of the Public Art Abu Dhabi Biennial, Public Matter, which focuses on inclusivity and accessibility. Co-curator Carmen Hassan notes that the initiative seeks to reimagine urban spaces by embedding artworks into the rhythms of the city, encouraging residents to engage with their environment in new ways. On the seashore, cats nestle in the curves of shells, children play in the sand, and friends gather around oysters, listening to the gentle sounds of the unusual landscape.
Project Info:
Name: Homesick
Artist: Farah Al Qasimi
Photographer: Lance Gerber
Location: Abu Dhabi
UAE
Event: Abu Dhabi Public Art Biennial
Date: 15 November 2024 - 30 April 2025
Organizer: Department of Culture and Tourism - Abu
 Dhabi
Source: designboom