I Come to My Island is inspired not only by this street, but by my father’s experience working in Al Quoz. It’s a place where he built lifelong friendships, and one he still returns to whenever something needs to be done. For this residency, I revisit that experience imagining and creating islands like the one he knew: spaces people inhabit briefly, to give to the land, take from it, and then return to their lives. I’m also interested in how the islands shifts over the course of the month. During the years that my dad worked in the UAE - his body changed. Almost as if he was a photo paper getting exposed to the sun and the wind. The materials I’ve used are intentionally sensitive to the elements. Part of this piece is to observe and document this change. If you happen to pass by, I’d really appreciate it if you could take a photo of the board and send it to me on Instagram @arnoldbarretto . Any angle or direction is welcome, as long as both boards are fully visible. - Arnold Arnold's residency on signboard slot 13,14 outside Bel Jafla Warehouse will run until 31st March. DM for location details.

"I Come to My Island is inspired not only by this street, but by my father’s experience working in Al Quoz. It’s a place where he built lifelong friendships, and one he still returns to whenever something needs to be done. For this residency, I revisit that experience imagining and creating islands like the one he knew: spaces people inhabit briefly, to give to the land, take from it, and then return to their lives. I’m also interested in how the islands shifts over the course of the month. During the years that my dad worked in the UAE - his body changed. Almost as if he was a photo paper getting exposed to the sun and the wind. The materials I’ve used are intentionally sensitive to the elements. Part of this piece is to observe and document this change. If you happen to pass by, I’d really appreciate it if you could take a photo of the board and send it to me on Instagram @arnoldbarretto . Any angle or direction is welcome, as long as both boards are fully visible." - Arnold Arnold's residency on signboard slots 13,14 outside Bel Jafla Warehouse (home of @studiothirteen_dxb ) will run till 30th April. DM for location details. Thank you to everyone who showed up for board-transfer-day. I appreciate you. And big hugs to @kennethsagar , the man behind the camera 📸

We close this iteration of Peripheral Acts with @arnoldbarretto residency, I Come To My Island. Installed on signboard slots 13 and 14 outside Bel Jafla Warehouse, the work will be on view from 1–30 April. Here's a brief introduction to his work and process: "Hello! My name is Arnold. I am a photographer, printmaker, teacher, and book artist. My practice explores intimacy and desire, though at its core, everything I make is about love. Some of my favourite films include Past Lives, La La Land, Mean Girls, and My Name Engraved Herein (though I wouldn’t recommend that last one unless you’re ready to cry). I often work with participants, gathering their stories and documenting their experiences to understand how love is felt, how it is held, and how it is shared or sometimes kept. For this residency, I returned to my father’s experience of working in Al Quoz. It’s where he built lifelong friendships, and even now, it’s a place he returns to whenever he needs something done. In response, I imagine and create islands much like the one my father knew a space people come to inhabit for a few hours: to give to the land, to take from it, and then to return to their lives." DM us for location details. Install 📸 : @kennethsagar Portrait 📸 : @augustineparedes

We gathered in November last year at Kite Beach in Dubai. It was a very small gathering of three people, the prompt was around 'leakages/acts of disobedience' in the arts. The conversations were light and easy, we decided to let go of the compulsion to respond to the prompt and just try to understand each other’s practice, life, journeys, experiences of being an artist in India and the UAE, and our desires for art making to be an exciting, independent and accessible process, rather than an endless cycle of applications, deadlines, projects, and anxieties of sustaining it. The conversations came from our immediate concerns around art practice and its ecosystem. The experiences of working with art institutions in both regions lead to certain questions: what does care and togetherness truly mean amidst a surge of exhibitions and programs performing care in institutional spaces? How are we trying to create moments of disobedience while negotiating with structures of art in India and the UAE? What does this negotiation incorporate, refuse, or leave behind in order to make more independent and disobedient spaces possible? The light sea breeze, sound of waves getting louder as time passed, and the movement of our hands and feet playing with the sand, left a surreal and warm impression of the gathering. At the end, we tried making dribble castles with sand that refused to take any shape and crumbled back to the ground, uncontrollable and disobedient. After some effort and more refusals, we resigned and just stood with our feet in the waves, sharing a quiet moment while staring into the infinite and unknown horizon. 🌀 with @meher_vahid @shaziasalam @silelming

Unfolding Space is a reflective bookmaking workshop that explores the relationship between the self and the space that we create or work in. Together, we will question what is shown and what remains hidden, between the seen and the unseen, the spoken and the unspoken. Through guided writing and drawing prompts, each participant will contribute to a shared process of storytelling using their own personal archive. The workshop culminates in a collaborative zine that weaves together multiple voices and perspectives that each participant will get to keep. This workshop offers insight into Arnold’s residency at Signboards 13 and 14 at Bel Jafla Warehouse, as part of Peripheral Acts. Peripheral Acts is a project that invites an artist’s practice to dwell within public space for a time, tracing the relational dynamics that shape and emerge through public life in the UAE. Sunday, May 17 3-7pm Limited to 8 participants, DM @peripheral_acts to book your spot

Frames from the guided walk and conversation. The walk moved through the patches in Al Quoz as part of the Peripheral Acts residency. . Photos by the amazing @kennethsagar :)

Thank you to everyone who joined us for @peripheral_acts gathering. It felt nice to walk together and have a good conversation🤍 . And thanks to @hafis_athimannil for capturing this beautifully 🤗

‘Unassigned presence’ Marking the in-betweens in Al Quoz. The guided walk and talk, taking you through this project as part of Peripheral Acts, have been rescheduled to March 28th. All are welcome :) Time: 4.30pm-6.30pm Date: 28th March 2026 Location: Studio thirteen

Tracing the Al Quoz’s in-between spaces. ‘Unassigned Presence’ . #peripheralacts

A little more to the ‘Unassigned Presence’, tracing the shared lives that thrive in neglected spaces, and the gentle pauses the hold. I invite you to join me for a guided walk on 28th February in Al Quoz, as part of this month long intervention within @peripheral_acts 🤗 Find more details and register through the link in my bio🤍 📷 @juraijahmed

Installed on a public hoarding in Al Quoz, this work looks at the spaces left behind by assigned functions, the in-between zones of an industrial landscape where life gathers. In these residual spaces, plants grow without being planted, birds pause between movement, and people take brief breaks between shifts, sitting together or sharing tea. Life here is not planned; it unfolds through everyday use. The layered, translucent surfaces reflect these overlapping presences. The forms move between organic edges and moments of rigidity, mirroring how living systems adapt and persist within functional, industrial structures. Transparency allows forms to appear and recede with changing light, echoing the delicacy of these unassigned lives. Situated in public space, the work exists alongside everyday activity, offering a moment of pause. Rather than directing attention elsewhere, it points back to what is already present, suggesting that even after the work is removed, the overlooked life of in-between spaces continues to hold that pause for those who pass through. - Ziya ‘Unassigned Presence’ is up on signboard slot 13,14 outside Bel Jafla warehouse till 28 February

“Unassigned Presence”, a public intervention by @plantae.by.zia Ziya’s residency on signboard slots 13,14 outside Bel Jafla Warehouse (home of @studiothirteen_dxb ) will run till 28th February. DM for location details. Friends and cheerleaders of @peripheral_acts really pulled up for installation day 💗 Grateful for the community and chaos. And as ever grateful for @kennethsagar ’s 📸 magic