18b Street Murals, Karama
Twenty-four murals above the 'handbag street' souk — 3D illusions, falcons and a floating green pickup, painted over one hot summer.
The 18b Street murals brightened one of old Dubai's most characterful corners: Street 18b in the Karama Shopping Complex, the budget-shopping souk long nicknamed the 'handbag street'. Commissioned by developer Wasl Properties and painted over a single hot month in the summer of 2016, the project put 24 murals across 12 apartment buildings and shopfronts, created by eight artists — two based in the UAE and six international, several of them Malaysian.
The collection is deliberately varied in style and subject, spanning 3D optical illusions, freestyle graffiti, wildlife and abstraction. Painted on the end walls of residential blocks and above the shops, standout pieces include a ship appearing to ride the waves on a three-dimensional extension of a building's wall; 'Up' by illustrator Khatun, a nostalgic green Toyota pickup — a Dubai old-timer's icon — lifted into the air by a bundle of balloons, echoing the Pixar film; animal heads from sharks to tigers to a falcon; and a mural with the names of the nation's founders, Sheikhs Zayed and Rashid, hidden within the design. Many of the works are collaborations between two or more of the artists.
The project followed similar developer-backed street-art initiatives at City Walk and in Business Bay, and turned a dusty, overlooked shopping street into one of Dubai's most photographed graffiti spots, giving the historic Karama district — bordering Bur Dubai and Oud Metha — a new draw beyond its bargain shops and celebrated South Asian restaurants.
Exhibo editorial
Karama is the anti-Dubai Dubai: knock-off handbags, brilliant cheap curry houses, buildings that have earned their scuffs. The 18b murals don't fight that character, they crown it — 24 walls of colour sitting directly above shops still hawking fake watches, which is exactly why they work.
The crowd-pleaser is 'Up': a battered green Toyota pickup, the unofficial mascot of old Dubai, floating off on a bunch of balloons. Nearby a painted ship sails off a 3D lip of wall that isn't really there. Look closely at one piece and you'll find the names of Zayed and Rashid hidden in the design. It's street art doing the thing it does best — turning the least glamorous, most lived-in street into the one you can't stop photographing.
How to find it
The murals run the length of Street 18b in the Karama Shopping Complex (the 'handbag street'). The nearest metro is ADCB station on the Red Line — take Exit 2 (Karama side), about a 15-minute walk; or use Al Karama Bus Station at the southern end of the street. Park at either end and walk the street to see all 24 murals on the ends of the apartment buildings and above the shopfronts.
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