Diane Tuft’s solo show titled “Frozen in Time: Photographs from the Arctic and Antarctica” at Leila Heller Gallery (November 2023) presented a collection of photographs documenting the expansive beauty of our planet and the dire situation that it continues to face if we do not provide a sustainable environment for its future. Tuft uses her camera to capture these results and distill them into images that are surreal, awe-inspiring, but most importantly, thought-provoking, being able to record the visual effects of climate change and global warming on our planet. Artist Ishmael Randall-Weeks, instead, starts his journey amidst the barren expanse of the Peruvian desert—a place teeming with life, whispers of history, and the solitude of wind-carved landscapes. In the valley of Samaca, parabolic shapes sculpted by nature's hand became an inspiration, mirroring the unity of form in both the natural and constructed worlds, connecting disparate deserts, and creating a metaphorical bridge between the sands of Peru and the Arabian dunes. The outcome is the exhibition “Desert Displacements” (January–February 2024) at Lawrie Shabibi, a body of geometric artworks which converge with elements rich with cross-cultural references—walking sticks, stones, rulers, an olive branch, or the figure of a falcon—highlighting a shared human experience in time and space. In both cases, art turns into an act of reflection and contemplation on how extreme habitats can shape our movements, emotions, needs, communications, and—ultimately—dreams. This paper examines emerging artistic engagements with scientific and architectural research on life-threatening environments, through the investigation of two recent exhibitions at Alserkal Avenue Dubai, showcasing the magnificence, as well the great challenges, of living in these vulnerable, exposed, inhospitable landscapes. A section is also dedicated to the recent trend of Eco Art in the GCC region (UAE and KSA).