The Lacemaker is pacemaker for Lawrie Shabibi’s 2021 opening season 18 Jan 2021 Muhammad Yusuf, Features Writer Lawrie Shabibi, Alserkal Avenue, Dubai, has announced The Lacemaker by Farhad Ahrarnia (Jan. 20 – Mar. 4). It is the gallery’s opening exhibition of 2021, and the artist’s third solo at the gallery. Comprising images drawn from a diverse range of sources and media — the internet, printed or painted material, and composed with embroidery, painted metalwork and grooming items — the exhibition gives new insight into the Shiraz (Iran) and Sheffield (UK) based artist’s intriguing eclectic practice. Role-playing and performance, the perception of surface and the notion that appearances are skin deep, are recurrent themes in Ahrarnia’s work, here expressed in four distinct groups of Embroideries. They include: faked portraits of Boko Haram brides, depicting much older, attractive individuals, in order to gain attention and sympathy; various white film actors in “Arab dress” portraying TE Lawrence (“Lawrence of Arabia”); the Italian star Franco Nero dressed as silent film star Rudolph Valentino as “The Sheikh”; and performance artist Nasim Aghdam, the “YouTube Shooter”, who, having been heavily censored online for her vegan and animal rights activities and motivated by perceived discrimination by YouTube towards her channels, stormed their headquarters, injuring four, before turning the gun on herself.