Nadia Kaabi-Linke's practice touches on notions of memory and the ways in which individual identities are formed by political events and changing geographies. In Under Standing Over Views, Kaabi-Linke drew on her personal experience of living in the UAE as an adolescent in the early 90s, confronted with regional politics, including the first Gulf War, while experiencing the multi-cultural environment of the Emirates. Commissioned for the 2009 Sharjah Biennial 9, Provisions for the Future, this installation recreates a map of the UAE using fragments of paint reclaimed from cities the artist travelled to or worked in between 2006 and 2009. These cities—among them Tunis, Berlin, and Kiev—are revisited in the work in both a personal journey and a representation of the constant change and evolution of place. Each piece or "slice" of paint is reconstructed, strength- ened with paper and glue, then hung from the ceiling by black silk threads. The height and the angle of the suspended map con- front the viewer with a fractured image that is difficult to decipher. The viewer can only imagine or recreate the map through personal knowledge and experience of the country. Spotlights project from above, creating shadows on the gallery floor and walls. This distort- ed representation of the map can never give an accurate or faithful view. Here, shadow becomes a metaphor for the constant shifting and contested geopolitical, social, and cultural conditions of the region. Asserting the futility of defining a single point of view, this work calls for nuanced interpretation, and recognition of the complex character of context and situation. Now part of the Sharjah Art Foundation Collection, this work suggests to viewers a different perspective on this multi-cultural and diverse country at a time of increasing uncertain- ty, conflict, and war within the rapidly changing geography of the Middle East.