Rand Abdul Jabbar Iraq, b. 1990

Rand Abdul Jabbar (b. 1990, Baghdad) works across sculpture, installation, writing and video, drawing from the vestiges and ephemera of history to produce reconstructions of past events as they intersect with personal experience. Engaging with legacies of archaeology, mythology and material culture through extensive research in archives, museum collections and historical sites, her practice examines how narratives of place are preserved, displaced and retold across time. Through processes of casting, repetition and reconstruction, Abdul Jabbar creates objects and environments that question the stability of memory while proposing new ways of understanding cultural inheritance. She received a Master of Architecture from Columbia University, New York, in 2014, where she was awarded the William Kinne Fellows Traveling Prize.

Shaped by experiences of displacement and distance from her homeland, Abdul Jabbar’s work frequently explores the relationship between landscape, identity and belonging. Clay, earth and architectural fragments recur throughout her practice as materials that carry memory and historical residue, allowing her to collapse temporal boundaries between ancient civilizations and contemporary life. Drawing on Mesopotamian mythology, archaeological artifacts and personal archives, she develops evolving bodies of work in which symbols, figures and forms reappear across different mediums, forming a visual language that moves between narrative, ritual and speculation. Through seriality and multiplicity, her works function both as archaeological traces and as imagined reconstructions, reflecting on how histories are continuously reshaped across generations.

Recent exhibitions include In Interludes and Transitions, the Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (2026); Manner of Experiments: Legacies of the Baghdad Modern Art Group, New York University Abu Dhabi (2026); PROXIMITIES, Seoul Museum of Art, Seoul (2026); Like Gold/പൊന്നു പോലെ, K.M Building, Fort Kochi, Kerala (2026); Molding Anew, Lawrie Shabibi, Dubai (2024), In The Presence of Absence, Desert X Alula (2024), A Permanent Nostalgia for Departure: A Rehearsal on Legacy with Zaha Hadid, Contemporary Art Center, Cincinnati (2023); And the Mirrors Are Many, 421, Abu Dhabi (2023); Icon. Iconic: Richard Mille Art Prize, Louvre Abu Dhabi (2022); For the Phoenix to find its form in us. On Restitution, Rehabilitation and Reparation, SAVVY Contemporary, Berlin (2021); Phantom Limb, Jameel Arts Centre, Dubai (2019); This Land’s Unknown, Biennale d’Architecture d’Orleans (2019); and An Instant Before the World, Biennale d’art contemporain de Rabat (2019).

Abdul Jabbar was awarded the Richard Mille Art Prize by Louvre Abu Dhabi in 2022. Her work and writing have been published in numerous publications including In Plain Sight: Scenes from Aridly Abundant Landscapes (Kaph Books), Monumental Shadows (Kaph Books), Architecture of Culture (Irthi Contemporary Crafts Council), Architecture of the Territory: Constructing National Narratives in the Arab World (Kaph Books), Woman Made: Great Women Designers (Phaidon), Between East and West: A Gulf (Actar), and WTD Magazine.

Her works are held in public and private collections including Abu Dhabi Music & Arts Foundation (ADMAF), Abu Dhabi, UAE, and FRAC Centre-Val de Loire, France.