Two Filipino creatives will take center stage in a contemporary art showcase opening this March at Hyatt Centric Jumeirah Dubai, highlighting themes of identity, resilience, and shared humanity.
Susan Villanueva-de Guzman and Marc Salamat are the featured artists of ONENESS, a collaborative exhibition organized and curated by Sellah Global Events and hosted at Hyatt Centric Jumeirah Dubai, with TeryMari Gallery as the presenting gallery. The show opens on March 4 at 7:30 p.m. at IKKA, the hotel’s art-integrated dining space in La Mer.
Villanueva-de Guzman, a contemporary artist and long-time design educator, spent three decades teaching Emirati students at the Higher Colleges of Technology in the UAE. Her practice reflects years of engagement with culture and education, often exploring how heritage and identity shape communities.
Her major piece, “7 Yet One,” pays tribute to the UAE’s federation, portraying seven distinct identities moving toward a common horizon. Structured pathways and layered cultural motifs act as visual metaphors for diversity aligned within one nation. In “Windows of Hope,” she reflects on the shared human experience during lockdown periods, using window-like grids to suggest separation and metallic accents to represent resilience and collective optimism.
Salamat, a resident artist of TeryMari Gallery and Filipino visionary known for symbolic and spiritually themed works, approaches the exhibition from an introspective lens. His paintings frequently draw from nature and universal harmony, inviting viewers into moments of contemplation.
In “Know Thyself,” Salamat emphasizes humility, gratitude, and inner awareness as starting points for transformation. His work “Infinite Love” depicts two figures united beyond physical boundaries, symbolizing harmony between spirit and matter and presenting love as a universal force that transcends divisions.
Curated and organized by Sellah Global Events, the exhibition positions the works of both artists as part of a larger dialogue on belonging in a multicultural city.
