From 31 March to 21 April 2026, Patina Maldives, Fari Islands will welcome artist Shezad Dawood to its shores for the inaugural Patina Art Residency.
This newly launched annual project from Patina Hotels & Resorts celebrates artists who reflect a commitment to impact and sustainability. Named as the Patina Resident Artist in 2025, Dawood will spend three weeks living and working on the island, developing new work inspired by the Maldivian environment reflecting the theme of this year’s programme, Fluid Worlds, that will become part of the resort’s permanent art collection.
The Patina Art Residency brings together art, hospitality and environmental stewardship, offering time and space to inspire impactful creations in meaningful ways. Dawood’s work during this year’s stage will examine how boundaries shift and change, whether between cultures, ideas, or elements.
For an artist who has spent the past decade talking to and being influenced by marine biologists and environmentalists, Patina Maldives offers a particularly resonant backdrop: during his stay, he will undertake extended ‘field work’, learning more about endangered reef systems and building relationships with local coral researchers and communities, while exploring artistic practices, responding to a mixture of conversations and visceral stimuli. As Dawood comments: “I’m delighted to be beginning my residency at Patina Maldives.
“The opportunity to spend time in this environment, and to work alongside researchers and local communities, feels both generous and rare. I’m looking forward to letting the rhythms of the island, the conversations that unfold, and the onsite materials shape the work as it develops.”
Born in London in 1974, Dawood trained at Central St Martin’s and the Royal College of Art before undertaking a PhD at Leeds Metropolitan University. A multidisciplinary artist who interweaves stories, realities and symbolism to create richly layered artworks, Dawood is fascinated by ecologies and architecture.
His work takes a philosophical approach, asking questions and exploring alternative futures through what he describes as ‘world-building'. Selected solo exhibitions and commissions include: A Garden of the Floating World, Jhaveri Contemporary, Mumbai (2025); Leviathan, Salisbury Cathedral, Salisbury (2023); Night in the Garden of Love, Inspired by & featuring Yusef Lateef, Aga Khan Museum, Toronto (2023) and WIELS, Brussels (2023); Integrations, Barakat Contemporary, Seoul (2023); and HMS Alice Liddell, St Pancras Wires commission, London (2022).
Designed by Brazilian architect Marcio Kogan, the resort houses a respected permanent art collection, including the Skyspace Amarta by James Turrell, and offers guests wellness journeys, music programmes and culinary experiences alongside the Fari Islands’ vibrant community. The Patina Art Residency invites leading galleries to nominate existing works by artists that speak to a chosen theme relating to impact and sustainability.
One artist is selected each year by an independent panel of judges, including some of the world’s foremost art patrons and leaders, to undertake a specialised residency at a Patina destination, reinforcing the brand’s commitment to art as a way of connection, reflection and change. The Patina Art Residency will return in 2026, with the selected artist being awarded a residency in Patina Osaka in 2027.
