Born in Syria in 1957, Juliet Makhlouf has spent more than 40 years working across art, education, and cultural preservation. A graduate of the Faculty of Fine Arts at the University of Damascus, she began exhibiting in the early 1980s and has since built a career spanning the Middle East and Europe. Alongside her studio practice, Makhlouf has taught in Syria, Qatar, and the UAE, influencing generations of artists while continuing to refine her own visual language.
Her latest exhibition, Ancestry, now showing at Oblong Gallery in Al Quoz, brings together a new body of work focused on heritage, collective memory, and the lasting cultural legacy of the Arab world.
In Ancestry, Makhlouf looks back to ancient civilizations and shared human origins. Drawing inspiration from the ancestors of Syria and the wider Arab region, the exhibition reflects on how their intellectual, spiritual, and artistic achievements continue to shape the present, despite centuries of loss and destruction.
Makhlouf’s career includes extensive exhibitions across the region. She has shown at Art House in Damascus, participated multiple times in the General Exhibition of Fine Arts in Sharjah during the 1990s, and took part in the group exhibition Eye of All Colors at the Alliance Française in Damascus. Internationally, her solo exhibitions include En El Paraíso Imposible at the Arabic Syrian Cultural Center in Madrid, and her first Dubai solo show at Meem Gallery in 2015.
“Admiring ancestors is to pay tribute to their precious contribution that will never be erased. Despite mass destruction, their surviving works are filled with beauty, love, and meaning. Their stories have crossed all borders toward the entire humanity,” said Makhlouf.
Ancestry explores identity, lineage, and cultural continuity through Makhlouf’s evolving practice.
The exhibition runs from January 24 to February 8 at Oblong Gallery in Al Quoz, Dubai, and is open daily from 11am to 7pm, with free admission