A sidewalk in the park, a bridge across a river or a dimly lit tunnel — these are all conventional spaces usually ignored by urban eyes. We often end up praising only structures that have connotations of the grandiose: the tallest building, the largest bridge, the oldest bazaar. When we think of these structures as merely functional, we suppress endless possibilities to transform the space surrounding us and claim it as ours.

This is exactly what Christo and his late wife Jeanne-Claude, two well-known artists, aimed to do in their work: fill in the void and shed light on structures that have long become virtually invisible. Now at the age of retirement, Christo wants to inspire young artists to follow their passions and hopefully continue a legacy of transforming the arts into an experience that surpasses four-sided canvasses hidden within the walls of a museum.

Since 2012, Christo has granted the Christo & Jeanne-Claude Award to recognize ground-breaking artists and nurture the arts in the UAE. This year, Nada Al Mulla and Salwa Al Khudairi, two architecture students from American University of Sharjah, were the recipients of the prize.

Their piece, titled Keswa, is a steel structure that depicts the movement of silky fabric through arranged metal panels. It aims to emulate the abaya, a female attire traditional in the Gulf. The outside, obscuring yet smooth and rhythmic, intrigues the viewer. The inside reveals technical features that can’t be appreciated from an external view.

“Our idea is a metaphor of the abaya that woman wear in the Arab world. So the outside is covered, and then once you walk in, you find what [it’s] made [of] and all the support it has in its inside,” commented Mulla.

The structure was modeled and put together by the girls themselves.

“[The panels] also resemble the stitches of the fabric and allow the light to come in, just like how fabric allows the light to come in,” explained Mulla. “First we started designing sketches and getting out ideas on paper, then we took it to the computers. We physically modeled it and made 2D drawings to laser-cut the metal. Then we folded them and used the ribs to give the shape. We created a system of attachment so that we could assemble it ourselves.”

The selection committee was impressed not only by the structure’s drama and cultural relevance, but also by the creation process, which involved a restricted budget and limited help from others – it was the artists themselves who assembled the piece for its exhibition. Until April 2, the structure was on display at NYU Abu Dhabi’s Saadiyat campus; it has now embarked on the second stage of its tour through the UAE.

Christo also expressed admiration for the installation after viewing the final product.

“These young ladies had an idea and made it work. I remember the sketches and I was very impressed they made it real,” commented Christo.

The curvature of the piece channels light towards the inside and creates shadows that fluctuate in shape and size throughout the day. The wind crosses at new pathways and spectators find different spaces to discover. The piece is exposed to the unpredictable environment and to the human phenomena that can alter it and be altered by it. It is in this symbiotic relationship that Christo finds beauty.