All artists
Dubai · Hong Kong · London · Multidisciplinary
Michèle Cade Khelifi
"Words appear not to be read, but to be felt."
"Words appear not to be read, but to be felt."
Born in London in 1980, British of French & Uruguayan roots, Michèle Cade Khelifi is a Dubai-based artist working in intuitive calligraphy and layered abstraction. Her practice begins with writing, though the words are rarely meant to be read. Text is layered, obscured and rewritten until language dissolves into gesture. What remains is rhythm, pressure and movement. The surface holds emotion rather than narrative.
At the centre of her work is an exploration of vulnerability and quiet strength. Each piece reflects the tension between what we reveal and what we withhold. Influenced by the women who have shaped her life and by cultures that value both expression and restraint, her layered marks carry resilience as much as fragility.
She works across canvas, paper and sculptural forms, often using raw or repurposed materials whose textures guide the composition. Raised in London, shaped by a decade in Hong Kong where she immersed herself in Chinese calligraphy, and now working from her studio in Al Quoz, Dubai, her perspective is inherently cross-cultural. Her work has been exhibited internationally and is held in private collections across the Middle East, Europe and Asia.
Created on repurposed palm leaf wood, this series explores the idea that every material carries a story of its own. Before becoming a canvas, each surface has already lived another life, bearing the marks of time, nature and the human touch.
Drawing on materials that often go unnoticed, Beneath explores ideas of resilience, renewal and hidden strength. Layers of writing and gesture reveal traces of what lies beneath the surface, where vulnerability and endurance coexist.
Through stitched threads, layered inks and raw surfaces, Holding explores repair, connection and vulnerability. Each mark and stitch becomes a quiet reflection on the stories, scars and emotions we carry within us.
Each vessel carries a story, a memory, an energy. Layers of writing become marks of presence rather than language, allowing meaning to emerge through feeling rather than reading. Each piece invites a quiet reflection on what we carry, conceal and preserve over time.
Words repeated until meaning shifts. Through recurring text and graphic mark making, these works explore internal dialogue, lingering thoughts and the patterns of language that shape our experience.
Painted on the floor through movement, rhythm and gesture, Resonance captures the energy exchanged between body, surface and mark. Layers of colour and writing become traces of a moment felt rather than recorded.
A commission is a collaboration built on trust. Beginning with a shared story, memory or sentiment, each work translates personal narrative through a distinctive language of layered writing and gesture. Words may be revealed, concealed or transformed into mark making, resulting in a work that is both deeply personal and uniquely its own.
