Kuwaiti Artist Aseel Al-Yaqoub Wins Ithra Art Prize for “Flora Incognita”

DUBAI – Kuwaiti artist Aseel Al-Yaqoub has won the seventh Ithra Art Prize for 2026 with her project “Flora Incognita,” an artwork exploring botanical classification and its relationship to knowledge, identity and place in the Gulf.

Al-Yaqoub was announced as the winner during a ceremony at the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture, known as Ithra, in Dhahran on Oct. 1. She will receive a SR376,000 ($100,000) grant to support her artistic practice, while the winning work will join Ithra’s permanent collection.

“Flora Incognita” is presented as a botanical herbarium featuring hybrid desert plants. The project combines 3D-printed sculptures, steel cabinets and graphite drawings to examine the history of botanical classification in the Gulf and the influence of naming and categorization on perceptions of knowledge, identity and geography.

The exhibition also features works by the other four finalists: Syrian artist Bady Dalloul, Egyptian artist Heba Y. Amin Elmahamly, Jordanian artist Ala Younis, and Palestinian artist Jawad Al-Malhi.

Dalloul’s “Drawing in Matchboxes” consists of miniature artworks created inside matchboxes, exploring memory, history and personal experience. Elmahamly’s “The Last Carrier: Iteration I” uses textiles to revisit an 18th-century depiction of Egypt’s Mahmal procession and reconsider its colonial context.

Younis presents “Lifted Arches,” an installation inspired by architect Minoru Yamasaki’s buildings in Dhahran and Riyadh, examining light, modular design and the meeting point between Islamic architectural traditions and modernism.

Al-Malhi’s “Ashes of Absence” is a mixed-media series featuring ghost-like figures and addressing disappearance, loss and the traces left behind by individuals and communities.

Ithra programs manager Farah Abushullaih said this year’s selection demonstrates strong intellectual depth and creative ambition.

All five finalists received production grants, while the group exhibition will remain on display at Ithra through March 2027.