Guide · Dubai
Walking Karama’s mural lanes along 18B Street
Follow a short Dubai street-art walk around Karama Shopping Complex. Find 18B Street, see original mural photographs and learn what to look for today.
On Karama’s 18B Street, the best view of a building can be from the opposite pavement. In 2016 artists turned the ends and upper walls of shopping and residential blocks into canvases. A bird of prey filled one façade. On another, huge patches of colour ran across the seams of the building above the shops. The street is the destination, and the shopfronts below the paintings are still an important part of the view. Original photo report
Fast facts
| Detail | Visitor information |
|---|---|
| Start | Karama Shopping Complex, Al Karama, Dubai |
| Street to find | 18B Street, near the fish market area |
| Format | Self-guided walk on public pavements |
| Suggested time | 30 to 45 minutes in daylight |
| Ticket | No ticket for the street walk |
| Artwork condition | Images here document 2016. Individual walls can change |
A short route that makes sense on foot
Begin on 18B Street by the shopping complex. Walk one side of the block first. Look towards the broad ends of the buildings and then above the line of shop signs. Some of the original artists used the full height of a wall, so standing directly beneath it can hide the composition.
At a pedestrian crossing, move to the other side and return along the opposite pavement. Try to fit one entire façade into your field of view, including its windows and shop entrances. Compare that view with a close detail such as the painted edge of a feather. The difference in scale is part of what makes the walk work.
Bird of prey mural on a Karama building in the original 2016 project. Both photographs by What’s On Dubai, 2016.
Which murals can you expect to see?
Contemporary reporting documented 24 works by eight artists in the Wasl Properties commission. The original subjects included a shark, a falcon and a tiger. A street-art photographer’s guide published in August 2025 also identifies 18B Street and the shopping complex. We could verify the project and route, but could not establish the present condition of every wall on 11 November 2026. Treat the archive photographs as clues to the original project. Khaleej Times, 2016 · BA Street Art, 2025
The paintings share the street with delivery drivers, residents and people doing their shopping. Use the public pavement for photographs, keep doorways clear and ask before making a shopkeeper or resident the subject of a portrait. A longer lens or the opposite pavement will usually give you a better angle than stepping backwards into traffic.
When should you go?
Choose a cooler part of the day with enough light to see colour on the upper walls. If a façade is in deep shadow, try the other side of the street first. Anyone making a special journey for a particular painting should check a recent, dated photograph of that exact wall. For everyone else, one block and a return walk are enough to discover how much of Karama’s art sits above eye level.
Visitor information checked on 11 November 2026.