PLAYGROUND DETROIT is pleased to announce Casting the Net, Zahra Almajidi’s debut solo exhibition, presented during Detroit Month of Design 2026, on view through October 3.
Casting the Net flows between the spaces of constructed memory and contradictory materiality. Employing both analog and digital fabrication methods, her design objects, jewelry, and digital prints envision a future that asks: How does one build upon the craft and design traditions of their ancestors to forge a connection to their displaced culture?
This question manifests into a colorful, figurative and ornamental visual language that transforms space into a site of confrontation. Adorned with design objects inspired by the imagery in the Marsh Arab rugs and other cultural objects, the exhibition functions as a speculative act of world-building instead of focusing on a past systematically erased. Instead, Casting the Net insists on projecting a future that both references and expands upon a dying craft and material culture.
From the artist-
I love making pretty objects. I love pulling people in, because art hasn’t always felt like it was for everyone.” – Zahra Almajidi
As a 2025 Emerging Artist Fellow, Zahra Almajidi was selected through an open call process and chosen by a professional arts jury for their artistic excellence and compelling exhibition concept. The Emerging Artist Fellowship recognizes ambitious Detroit-based artists early in their careers who demonstrate creative risk-taking and a clear artistic vision.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Zahra Almajidi is a visual artist raised and based in Detroit, MI. Her work explores the ways in which objects and adornment allow displaced people to continue to uphold and practice their craft traditions while living in the diaspora.
