Dubai · 23/09/2026
Rana Begum: Taking Form
Rana Begum's fifth solo exhibition at The Third Line
The Third Line presents Taking Form, Rana Begum's fifth solo exhibition with the gallery, featuring a new body of work in linen, textile, wood and paper. Continuing her exploration of textiles, the exhibition brings the medium into dialogue with her enduring interest in light, colour and material. While embracing a turn towards softness and delicacy, the works build on Begum's long engagement with abstraction and Minimalism. Geometry runs throughout: drawing on Islamic pattern, squares and rectangles set out defined perimeters while the configurations within them suggest continuation beyond their edges — the geometry is never truly contained. Begum moves fluidly between metal, paper, wood, terracotta and mesh, and her latest work in wool — large-scale tapestries — testifies to that versatility. Suspended from the ceiling of Gallery 1, the nearly five-metre-tall tapestries draw the gaze upwards and turn the room into a vast, immersive field of cascading colour. Her interest in woven surfaces dates to 2022, when she was commissioned to design seat covers and tapestries for the transformation of the Bristol Beacon, and her collaboration with the textile studio Dash & Miller continues here. Composed of coloured triangles woven together with a ridging technique, the tapestries carry a dual pattern that is revealed only as the viewer moves around them. Alongside the tapestries, a group of works on paper study colour interaction through watercolour marks. Their pale, aqueous tones echo the painstaking process of combining colours in the weavings, distilled into just a few strokes, and form a visual bridge between the two rooms. In Gallery 2, a series of large linen paintings extends Begum's interest in how paint behaves on different surfaces, from reflective mirror and glass to absorbent wood, paper and canvas. Overlapping triangles are built up in layers of diluted acrylic, and the natural, unprocessed tone and texture of the linen shape the colour as it sinks into the weave, lending the surfaces a raw, organic quality that evokes the shifting character of light. Smaller wooden panel paintings punctuate the space with playful accents; their light colours accumulate in subtle changes of density, the smooth panels holding the paint as an even veil. Together the two series create a luminous field with a gentle rhythm that changes as visitors move through the gallery. Light has been central to Begum's practice throughout, as she considers the shifting sensory effects produced by different combinations of colour, material and scale. Taking Form continues that inquiry, inviting viewers to move through the galleries at their own pace and discover changing hues, forms and rhythms along the way.
