It is 20 years since Sunny Rahbar, Claudia Cellini and Omar Ghobash joined forces to open The Third Line, a contemporary art gallery in Dubai. It was 2005, and a time when outlets for creativity from the Middle East and wider region were much needed in the simmering aftermath of 9/11.

Lunging, jumping, and vaulting, dance masters demonstrate capoeira, inviting onlookers in Sharjah’s Arts Square to join them. Few will have guessed that the 60-something man in loose white trousers and a light pink T-shirt, part of the crowd, was the artist Hassan Hajjaj. He organised the workshop as part of Sharjah Biennial 15 in February as a way to engage the public with his documentary Gnawa Capoeira Brothahood (2023). A deeply personal project that took two decades to come to fruition, it traces the historical similarities between Gnawa, a Moroccan performance art rooted in Sufi music, and the Afro-Brazilian martial art of capoeira.

After a three-year hiatus, Sharjah Biennial will return next March. It is a landmark moment also for the event, as SB15 will realise the dreams of its curator, who died in 2019. Here, Anna Seaman gives a short preview ahead of the 2023 event.

As part of an investigation into the use of Arabic script in art, I peered into the practice of Hassan Hajjaj to find out more about his fusion of Pop and Arabic culture and his overriding positivity.

London-based photographic artist Hassan Hajjaj will open a solo show in Somerset House in October as part of 1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair. La Caravane will open October 5