Time to Go
Solo Exhibition
30 January–20 February 2024
Sultan Gallery, Kuwait
Curated by Malak Al-Suwaihel
Time to Go was Dalal Al-Obaidi’s First solo exhibition at Sultan Gallery, curated by writer and cultural researcher Malak Al-Suwaihel. Bringing together works in soft pastel, acrylic, and oil pastel on paper and canvas, the exhibition examined memory, movement, nostalgia, and the artist’s experiences of travelling beyond—and crossing boundaries within—her native Kuwait. Al-Obaidi captured transient scenes that might otherwise pass unnoticed: an exchanged glance on a subway platform, passengers glimpsed through the windows of a moving train, the interior of a family home, or the glow of a chandelier above an old portrait. Rather than presenting nostalgia as an accurate record of the past, the works approached it as something emotional and unstable—a reconstruction shaped by sensation, longing, and the way a moment is remembered. At the centre of the exhibition was the self-portrait Time to Go (2023), in which Al-Obaidi depicted herself and her reflected image gazing outward while a group of black-clad women occupied the background. The painting considered the relationship between women, space, and historical narratives, questioning whose experiences are recorded and whose are overlooked. The exhibition also included an intimate living-room installation inspired by Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own. Surrounded by portraits of Al-Obaidi’s family and familiar public spaces, a television presented a looping video that reimagined nostalgic Kuwaiti morning shows and other programmes from the artist’s childhood. Through this combination of painting, portraiture, installation, and moving image, Al-Obaidi reinserted personal experience into familial and collective memory. Throughout Time to Go, movement became both a physical act and an imaginative possibility: a way to cross geographical, social, and historical boundaries and claim the freedom to exist in different places, spaces, and narratives.
