Maisoon Al Saleh

Maisoon Al Saleh is an Emirati visual artist based out of Dubai. Her artistic style is surrealism with commentary on modern and traditional Emirati culture. Her paintings often feature the skeletons of humans and animals.

Early life and education Al Saleh was born in 1988 in Dubai At the age of 8, she began painting with oil paints on canvas with the help of her aunt, who was also an artist. She received a degree in interior design from Zayed University in January 2010. In 2009, she contributed her work to Emirati Expressions: Art from the Heart of the Emirates at Emirates Palace's Gallery One. In 2016, Al Saleh's art, with symbols of skulls and bones, was included in a group exhibition of Emirati artists in Kreuzberg, Berlin, entitled Art Nomads - Made in the Emirates.

Selected works One of Al Saleh's first sales was a diptych titled The Couple that sold to the Barjeel Art Foundation in Sharjah. The Couple depicts a male and a female skeleton dressed in traditional wedding attire and were based on a real couple who died.

Al Saleh was one of 21 artists to contribute to the Maritime UAE exhibition presented in conjunction with the 2012 National Day celebrations. The exhibit paid tribute to the maritime influence on Emirate culture and Al Saleh's contribution featured fish skeletons.

In November 2014, Al Saleh contributed to Promesse, an exhibition where 16 artists were asked to interpret Baume et Mercier timepieces. The same year, her painting Money Doesnt Float from her exhibit The Dara Chronicles was auctioned at Bonhams in London.

The Dara Chronicles In 2013, Al Saleh presented her third solo show, The Dara Chronicles, at The Ara Gallery in downtown Dubai. The exhibit contained digital paintings and mixed-media prints that used X-rays and vintage suitcases. The exhibit was inspired by the stories she heard from her grandfather about the MV Dara explosion of 1961. Her grandfather was a survivor of the incident.

Her research also included reading letters written by the boat company and police investigators, as well as news articles and stories told by survivors. Much of the original coverage of the event was based on the British media, and The Dara Chronicles provided insight on the hidden stories of people who survived the MV Dara explosion.