Posts in Features
Poetic Symmetry
Poetic Symmetry

Photographer Ishaq Madan’s 2021 image of Bahraini skateboarders went viral when it was picked up by New York’s MoMA. Today, his practice is more cinematic.

With his ghutra afloat, agal suspended in midair, and arms outstretched like wings, the skater in Shabab Al Mustaqbel became an overnight viral sensation when his image was shown in New York City subway stations in 2022. It was not his identity that captured people’s imagination but what he represented. In a single frame, Bahraini photographer Ishaq Madan had captured the raw and sometimes rebellious energy of youth in an often-misunderstood culture.

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Editor's Picks, FeaturesAnna SeamanPhotography, Ishaq Madan
A Cocoon for Contemplation
A Cocoon for Contemplation

Visiting Sharjah Mosque in the height of summer is a spiritual experience and a journey of discovery.

The burning heat of the Gulf summer makes the light play tricks. Even as the sun descends towards the horizon, as scorching day promises to make way for the respite of evening, shimmering waves of heat-refracted light hang in the air. This atmospheric phenomenon makes the approach to Sharjah Mosque one late afternoon in June feel like the building is a mirage rising from the searing sands.

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Features, Most PopularAnna SeamanSharjah mosque
Chopard's Red Carpet: Collection 77 Fairy Tales
Chopard's Red Carpet: Collection 77 Fairy Tales

Renowned for its creativity, state-of-the-art technology and the virtuosity of its artisans, Chopard has become one of the leading names in the luxury Swiss watch and jewellery industry. Labelled as “the artisan of intense emotions” the jewellery house is the official partner for the Cannes Film Festival for which Chopard’s High Jewellery artisans have been crafting objects of art since 1998.

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FeaturesAnna SeamanChopard, Jewellery, Cannes Film Festival
Transparencies of Material, Culture, and History: The Richard Mille Art Prize Opens Conversations on the Ways We See
Transparencies of Material, Culture, and History: The Richard Mille Art Prize Opens Conversations on the Ways We See

For the third edition of the Richard Mille Art Prize that ran until 18 February 2024, seven artist works from eight artists were showcased at Louvre Abu Dhabi for Art Here 2023. .e application was open to all GCC residents and nationals and is part of the Richard Mille brand’s commitment to the progression of contemporary art. .e prize is part of a 10-year agreement between the museum and the luxury watch brand reinforcing the bond between visual and horological arts as well as championing visionary creativity and innovative perspectives on a global scale. .e prize serves as a platform for support and recognition of artists committed to pushing the boundaries of contemporary art and is held annually as a space of interaction and exchange.

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FeaturesAnna SeamanRichard Mille, Prize
Beauty of the Treasured Green Gems: An Exhibition of Emeralds Opens L’ÉCOLE, School of Jewelery Art's New Permanent Campus in Dubai
Beauty of the Treasured Green Gems: An Exhibition of Emeralds Opens L’ÉCOLE, School of Jewelery Art's New Permanent Campus in Dubai

Upon entering Garden of Emeralds – the inaugural exhibition to mark the opening of L’ÉCOLE, School of Jewelry Art’s newest permanent space in Dubai – visitors encounter a magnificent treasure called the Goliath Mineral. It is a huge specimen weighing 33 kilograms that was extracted from a mine in Zambia in 2010. .e uncut mineral stone is filled with more than 100 raw emeralds protruding from its natural base that convey the journey of the treasured gems, straight from the heart of the planet.

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FeaturesAnna SeamanL’ÉCOLE, design, Dubai
“Value and art — a specular relation”
“Value and art — a specular relation”

It was a play on words that sat atop another play on words. When Sarah Meyohas envisioned Bitchcoin (2014) and launched the project in January 2015 as a physically-backed asset on a fork of Bitcoin, she was fusing art and tech with a clever metaphor. Bitchcoin was a spin off from Bitcoin, itself a name that references the financial worlds of gold, mining and speculation but Meyohas added another layer — gender.

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Medium, FeaturesAnna Seamanart, Art Dubai, currency, cryptocurrencyComment
The Great Leveller
The Great Leveller

Not wanting to sound too morbid at the beginning of a new year but the words that I have chosen for the title of this piece, in literary terms, usually signify death and how the fall of the final curtain makes no distinction between rich or poor, status or insignificance. Death, indeed, is the greatest leveller of all. However, these words continually come to my mind when pondering the world of NFTs and how they are impacting the traditional art market.

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FeaturesAnna Seamanart, crypto, NFTComment
Survival of the fittest: the perils of viral memes, internet algorithms and the rise of the NFT market
Survival of the fittest: the perils of viral memes, internet algorithms and the rise of the NFT market

What does it take to go viral? What’s the secret formula that makes one clip about a child biting another child’s finger worth £500,000 whilst the cute, funny home videos on my iPhone only have sentimental value to me? So much about going viral, or skyrocketing prices pegged to your NFT is about being first, new, fresh and surprising. But equally, it can feel like a murky world out there when it comes to the deep, dark mysteries of internet algorithms that bounce one meme to the top of the forwarding pile and leave others lingering to fall into oblivion.

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FeaturesAnna SeamanNFTs, cryptocurrency, BEEPLEComment
Shifting Sands
Shifting Sands

When art historian, critic, and curator Valeria Ibraeva visited Latifa Saeed’s Dubai studio in January, she told the Emirati artist that she wanted to bring her work to Almaty for a solo exhibition that would showcase its breadth and diversity. In June, Saeed’s show A Black Silhouette opened in the city’s Almaty Gallery with a collection of nine distinct bodies of work from 2013 to today. It was her first solo and the first time an Emirati has exhibited a solo show in Kazakhstan. The exhibition paid credit to Saeed’s evolution as an artist and designer whose experimental approach covers fine art, graphic design, advertising, branding, and product design.

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Features, Profiles, Editor's PicksAnna SeamanLatifa Saeed, Emirati artComment
Emel Mathlouthi: The Artivist
Emel Mathlouthi: The Artivist

Labels are something singer Emel Mathlouthi has tried to avoid—but not always successfully. Activist. Revolutionary. Protest singer. Role model.

Born in the suburbs of Tunis and raised during the long rule of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, it is lore that Mathlouthi rose to prominence with a powerful song that became the soundtrack to Tunisia’s Jasmine Revolution, which ignited a fire that spread along the North African shore. ‘Kelmti Horra’ (‘My Word is Free’), based on lyrics by Tunisian poet Amine Al Ghozzi, changed Mathlouthi’s career.

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Features, Profiles, Editor's PicksAnna Seamanprofile, singer, music, Emel Mathlouthi
33 Songs, 99 Words
33 Songs, 99 Words

Sawsan Al Bahar’s father raised her with music. “There was never a moment without music playing in our house. I grew up listening to a rich spectrum: songs by superstars and obscure musicians, songs known to all and songs known to nobody,” she says. But it was songs by Arab music’s pioneers that captured her heart. Richly lyrical numbers taught her—yearning, nostalgia, love, joy, pride, protest, celebration, mourning, and humour. Now the Damascus-born, Dubai-based artist presents an exhibition at Maraya Art Centre in Sharjah, which charts her life through 33 songs, a track for each year.

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Profiles, FeaturesAnna Seamanart, music, Sawsan Al BaharComment
Meet the Artist: Kamal Boullata
Meet the Artist: Kamal Boullata

Born in the Christian quarter of Jerusalem in 1942, Boullata went on to study fine art at the Accademia di Belle Arti, Rome in 1965. When war broke out at home in 1967, he was in Beirut and was not able to return to Palestine. He lived the rest of his life in exile moving from Morocco to the US – where he received an MFA from Corcoran School of Art, Washington, DC in 1971, then to France and eventually to Germany, where he lived out the rest of his life. However, the city of Jerusalem was continuously alive in his heart. He once said: "I keep reminding myself that Jerusalem is not behind me, it is constantly ahead of me."

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Features, Editor's PicksAnna SeamanDubai Collection, Artist, PaintingComment
Dubai: Global Capital for the Creative Economy, HE Hala Badri Shares her Insight and Vision
Dubai: Global Capital for the Creative Economy, HE Hala Badri Shares her Insight and Vision

In April 2019, Her Excellency Hala Badri was appointed as the Director General of Dubai Culture and Arts Authority [Dubai Culture] by a royal decree from His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, following more than 20 years upon an impressive path across dynamic business sectors critical to the UAE’s economic development: telecommunications, oil and gas, media and real estate. Since taking over that vital role, Her Excellency has paved the way for a cultural revolution across the city, which, most recently, has taken hold in the announcement of Al Quoz Creative Zone - a new hub for creative businesses, including those involved in the visual arts, cinema, music and cultural heritage.

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Features, Editor's PicksAnna Seamaninterview, profile, Al Quoz, Dubai Culture, Artists, Downtown Design, Dubai Design DistrictComment
For The Love of Dance: Dance Reflections Supports Creativity All Around the World
For The Love of Dance: Dance Reflections Supports Creativity All Around the World

When an all-male cast of 13 virtuoso dancers from Algeria and Morocco took to the stage atThe Arts Center in New York University Abu Dhabi, audiences were thrilled by the stunning display of contemporary dance that combined capoeira, martial arts and urban-style street dance with powerful imagery evocative of orientalist paintings and the stone filigree of Islamic architecture.

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Features, ReviewsAnna Seamandance, Yaa Samar, Theatre, Culture, Abu Dhabi
Changing States
Changing States

Inspired by desert rose crystal forma- tions, Moufida Mohideen designed   a sculptural bookcase, titled Ascension, as a symbol of everlasting growth. Mohideen, a student of interior archi- tecture and design at the University of Sharjah, used contrasting raw materials—damas wood and mother of pearl—for the design, which won the ninth edition of the Van Cleef & Arpels Middle East Emergent Designer Prize.

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Profiles, FeaturesAnna Seamandesign, Moufida Mohideen, Van Cleef & Arpels Middle East Emergent Designer Prize, Tashkeel, University of Sharjah, Alin Constantin Photography