From dhow wood sculpture to beaded ports, Gulf art has found a following in Mumbai.
If you’ve been wondering just how deep the India and Gulf bond really is, there’s a pretty good answer in the form of a racecourse in Mumbai at the moment. The Art Mumbai UAE galleries are currently exhibiting work which is very much centred on trade, sea routes and shared heritage. Art Mumbai is in its 4th year at Mahalaxmi Racecourse and it concludes on Sunday 15th November.
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The Fair at a Glance
Art Mumbai is from 12th to 15th November and has 94 exhibitors (73 Indian, 21 international). 6 of the international galleries and 11 of the Indian galleries are new this year. There’s a General Day Pass (₹1,770), a sculpture park, guided walks, workshops, live performances and a speaker series. For the art lover, the Art Mumbai UAE galleries are a good reason to make the trip before the fair closes.
Rizq Art Gallery Debuts With a Trade Story
Rizq Art Gallery in Abu Dhabi is making its debut at the fair. Founder Shafeena Yusuff Ali has one concept that underpins the entire thing which is Mumbai as a trade hub between India and the Gulf. That is the concept that informs the entire booth.
Nujoom Alghanem’s Voyage (2010) is a seascape of a boat and sailors, with black paint layered over the work. Reem Al Mubarak’s sculpture is carved in teak (the very timber that the dhow ships were built from) and it bears a poem written by her great grandfather to a hakim that he had travelled to India to see. Of all the Art Mumbai UAE galleries, Rizq probably has the most personal story.
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Gallery Isabelle Returns
Gallery Isabelle is back after its 2025 debut. Director Jad Karam notes that Indian collectors were very interested, very knowledgeable and very enthusiastic. The fair last year was the catalyst for what the gallery is bringing this time.
Mohammed Kazem has a more developed show, featuring a new painting entitled Weekend which depicts migrant workers having a break, playing cards and napping in their shared accommodation. Ahmedabad born, UAE based artist Richi Bhatia is also represented with a show of drawings and ceramics, including plates which deal with the themes of meat, labour and trade across borders.
Karam points out that showing her work in her home country is very special. That makes Isabelle’s stand at Art Mumbai UAE quite the stand out.
Ports, Shells and Henna
Other works at the Rizq booth keep the sea very much in the picture.
Abdullah PA’s Cabinet of Drifting Histories is a set of tall (over 2m) columns, loaded with shells, keys, blades and hinges all of which are very much seaport hardware.
Amjum Rizve’s beaded works (including Port of Relics from 2026) are a look at old and new Indian ports. Ruqqaya Al Hashmi’s Points of Contact is henna work which points to a shared heritage.
All of the Art Mumbai UAE gallery works come back to the sea, migration and labour.
1×1 Art Gallery Keeps the Streak
1×1 Art Gallery has been in every year since the fair started in 2023. The range is enormous. We have Aygul Sarsen’s very much in the figurative mode, drawing on stories from her homeland of Karakalpakstan.
Rina Banerjee’s work is very much in the surreal vein. There’s also bronze work by Himmat Shah and beeswax cast from feathers by Gabriel Sobin. The Art Mumbai UAE galleries aren’t just about the sea and this booth is a case in point.
Why It Matters
The fair’s recurring themes are of course the Indian Ocean, the trade routes, migration and shared heritage. For a visitor in Mumbai the Art Mumbai UAE galleries really do make the India-Gulf link feel very much personal rather than just economic. If you’re in the area this weekend Mahalaxmi is the closest rail station and the Aqua Line 3 metro also stops at Mahalaxmi.
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