In a quiet residential pocket of Al Barsha in Dubai, Amal Rakibi’s (
@amalrakibigallery ) villa does not announce itself as a gallery.
the kitchen, vintage furniture scattered between spaces, and rooms layered with contemporary artworks from North Africa and France. Rakibi prefers it this way. By day, she commutes to her office in Abu Dhabi, where she works as a lawyer, and in the evenings - often over dinner
- she reshapes how art is collected and experienced in her city of residence. The house itself behaves much like the art it holds: it is fluid and constantly evolving. Some works belong to Rakibi’s personal collection, while others are available for purchase, meaning the environment shifts as pieces leave and new ones arrive. “If something sells and leaves the wall, the balance changes,” she says. “So I move things around.”
Rakibi lives here with her husband, their three children, and two dogs. The six-bedroom villa functions as both family home and informal exhibition space, hosting collectors, artists and friends with equal ease. “It’s a house, it’s a gallery, it’s a social place,” she says. “We built our home around that.!
Photography:
@zigamihelcic | Words: mona.basharat
#zigamihelcic
