Ana Escobar Saavedra’s first solo exhibition, It Starts Where It Ends, explores the nuances of identity and identification.
Through installations and artifacts that serve as repositories of data, memory, and social constructions, Escobar Saavedra examines where the self exists—both within and beyond the physical body—while navigating the tensions between permanence and impermanence, presence and absence.
At the core of the exhibition is a linguistic and philosophical duality drawn from her mother tongue: ser and estar, two Spanish verbs that both mean “to be.” Ser refers to what is inherent, while estar speaks to the temporary. These concepts underpin her practice, shaping an exploration of the tensions between different aspects of being.
Escobar Saavedra’s body of work is deeply rooted in materiality, with a particular focus on marble and granite—materials traditionally associated with historical preservation. By carving and reshaping these stones, she disrupts their conventional function, instead using them to reflect the body and skin’s form as vessels of change, capturing their evolving textures, scars and color over time. Through meticulous labor, she creates a sense of “preciousness” in overlooked objects and materials while revealing the fragility within forms typically seen as enduring. In doing so, she challenges conventional notions of value and longevity, examining the ways in which materiality itself holds memory.
Her work also interrogates the liminal space between the personal and the bureaucratic, exploring how identity is both a structured construct and an evolving experience. She engages with standardized forms—identification documents, certificates, lockets—reimagining them in ways that question their impermanence and the systems that define them. Through acts of containment, both literal and symbolic, she reflects on how names, dates, photographs and official records shape our existence from birth to death. By fragmenting these familiar markers of identity, she blurs the boundary between the personal and the institutional, prompting reflection on whether our identities are shaped more by documentation or by memory. Her work resists linearity, embracing cycles of meaning that continuously fold back on themselves.
The cyclical nature of Escobar Saavedra’s work is reflected in the exhibition’s title, It Starts Where It Ends, a phrase that speaks to the transcendence of identity. Just as her work resists linear narratives, her own name—Ana—forms a palindrome, beginning and ending in the same place, mirroring the human negotiation of what it means to be.
This exhibition is presented as part of the 421 Artistic Development Program, an annual capacity-building initiative that supports early-career artists in the UAE, giving them opportunity to explore new techniques, test ideas, and create a cohesive body of work for their first solo exhibition. The program is facilitated by Jolaine Frizzell. The artist was mentored by Nada Raza, and Érika Martínez Cuervo during her time in the program.
Image Credit: 421 online
When
26 May - 7 September, See the website for the opening hours.
Age
0+
Telephone number
+971 2 676 8803
Links
Address
Abu DhabiWarehouse421, Abu Dhabi, Mina Zayed, Street Samrayr, Warehouse421
How to get there?
From Abu Dhabi City: Follow the (E10) or Corniche Street towards Port Zayed (Secondary Entrance). Join 20th Street and at the 2nd roundabout turn left.
From Dubai (Travelling on E11): Take Saadiyat Island / Yas Island exit onto Sheikh Khalifa Highway (E12), Continue onto Sheikh Khalifa Highway following the signs for Port Zayed (Secondary Gate). Join 20th Street, and at the 2nd roundabout, turn left.
Key landmarks nearby Warehouse421 are Abu Dhabi Vegetable Market and Mina Center.