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ArtPeople

by Alexandra Mansilla

Local Female Artists You Should Be Following In 2025

7 Jul 2025

I Jump — Will I Stick the Landing? Photo: Aisha Alabbar Gallery

This list could honestly go on forever — there are just so many insanely talented female artists you need in your feed to keep you inspired and amazed. Today, we are sharing a few of the women who light us up every day. However, let’s be realistic; there is no way we could fit everyone into just one article. That is why this is only the beginning: we will definitely be making more of these, because we want to keep shining a light on all the incredible contemporary women artists around us — and, honestly, one list just isn’t enough.

Shama Al Hamed

We were absolutely fascinated by Shama’s exhibition, I Jump — Will I Stick the Landing?, which ran from February to April this year. The show invited visitors into a world of paintings, sculptures, and installations, all woven together by the artist’s personal journey. What is especially interesting is how architectural motifs — inspired by the buildings that surrounded her as a child — became the heart of her work. Repeated and transformed, these elements bring a dreamlike vibe, showing how the spaces we grow up in can shape the way we create.
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I Jump — Will I Stick the Landing? Photo: Aisha Alabbar Gallery

And in one of her recent shows, I DRAW WITH DUCTS at Abu Dhabi National Theatre, Shama took things even further: she used industrial materials (spot those familiar pipes?) as both subject and medium, pushing them beyond their everyday function. Here, architecture becomes rhythm, and even walls turn into a canvas for feeling.
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I DRAW WITH DUCTS. Instagram: @shamaalhamed

As one of the women artists in modern art making her mark right now, Shama’s practice stands out for its deep connection to both memory and place.

Maitha Hamdan

Working with both textiles and film, Maitha Hamdan is a self-taught artist who is always exploring new ground — and unlearning old patterns along the way. In her practice, Maitha weaves together different mediums to dig into big themes like life, love, history, and faith, all while reflecting on her own experiences.
She is a true visual storyteller: Maitha can turn music into moving images in real time, creating performances that feel fresh and immediate. Her work speaks to how the roles of Emirati women are shifting, as she fearlessly shares her own story and encourages others to express themselves beyond tradition. Maitha is quickly becoming one of the women artists in modern art who are shaping the future of the scene.
Look at her immersive I Kept Holding exhibition that examines the complexities of the human experience and the societal constraints imposed on women globally, along with the emotional and psychological toll of these limitations.
She is definitely one of the contemporary women artists to keep an eye on.

Zeinab Alhashemi

Zeinab Alhashemi’s work is all about finding that space between the manufactured and the organic. She moves easily across different media, reimagining everyday materials through a contemporary lens, and always drawing inspiration from the cultural and physical landscapes of the region.
Maybe you have seen those giant screws? That is her piece, Metempsychosis — a meditation on transformation, memory, and the self.
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Instagram: @zalhashemi

You have probably also seen her striking sculptures in AlUla: Camouflage 2.0, made from discarded camel hides set on an abstract, geometric base that looks like a natural rock formation. Just like camouflage, these sculptures blend seamlessly into the desert mountains.
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Photo: Lance Gerber

Here is how Zeinab describes her own visual language:
“My visual language is rooted in the philosophy of adaptation, where structure meets disruption. Using grids, industrial textures, and regional materials, I reflect on how humans transform and are transformed by their environment. Each work is a portal between the manufactured and the organic.”
Zeinab is a standout among women artists in modern art, always experimenting and pushing boundaries.

Almaha Jaralla

She turns everyday surroundings into deeply personal portraits. In her paintings and photos, you will spot moments from the modern history of her hometown — details that tell the bigger story of where she is from.
She loves local architecture and watching how the city keeps changing from one generation to the next. She often builds her pieces using her own photos and archival finds, offering us glimpses of the Gulf through different eras. Colour isn’t just decoration in her art — it is how she talks about the layered social dynamics and family histories that shaped her. All of her work gently weaves together questions of identity, both personal and collective.
A good example is her exhibition Crude Memory. Here, Almaha reimagines places from the past while looking to the future, focusing on cities like Al Ruwais, built during the oil boom of the 1970s. Through these works, she captures how urban and private spaces felt back then, and reflects on how things keep evolving as the country changes.
Just take a look at Almaha’s work, and it is easy to see why she is one of the local women artists 2025 who are reshaping the scene.

Moza Al Falasi

Moza, a multidisciplinary Emirati artist, is one of the contemporary women artists working across all sorts of media — from drawing and painting to printmaking, sculpture, and photography. Moza draws a lot of inspiration from the art and architecture of the Islamic world, especially old manuscripts, poetry, and traditional jewelry.
One of our favourite series by Moza is Letters to the Lost. In these works, red stands for “enemy” and blue for “friend.” Through this mixed media series on canvas boards, Moza explores ideas of presence and absence by layering discarded objects and everyday materials. Hidden within each piece are letters to the lost — messages that will never be received, but still linger beneath the surface.