Title: Palm

Year: 2010

Media: 22 carat gold leaf on xerox copy

Size: 29.7 x 21 cm

About the work: A series of works that show the United Arab Emirates (UAE) economy before the discovery of oil in the 1950s, including: pearl diving, fishing, nomadic farming, and the cultivation of date palms.

Bio: Abbas Akhavan, born 1977 in Tehran, currently works and lives in Montréal and Berlin. Akhavan’s practice ranges across site-specific ephemeral installations to drawing, video, sculpture, and performance. The direction of his research has been deeply influenced by the specificity of the sites in which he works, including the architectures that house them, the economies that surround them, and the individuals that frequent them. Upcoming and recent solo exhibitions include La Biennale di Venezia (2026); Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (2026); Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery, Vancouver (2025); Bangkok Kunsthalle (2025); Copenhagen Contemporary and Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen (2023).