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.

Features, Profiles, Editor's PicksAnna SeamanSeptember 27, 2023Latifa Saeed, Emirati artComment

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.

Features, Profiles, Editor's PicksAnna SeamanSeptember 27, 2023profile, singer, music, Emel Mathlouthi

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."

Features, Editor's PicksAnna SeamanJuly 6, 2023Dubai Collection, Artist, PaintingComment

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.

Xpsoure Photography Festival: Uncovering The Untold

Fewer than a thousand people have been to the blackness of outer space. But some 20,000 were able to walk through the Xposure International Photography Festival in February, where photographs of space exploration were spotlighted in the near darkness of galleries set up as mock moonscapes—featuring boulders and suspended meteors.

Reviews, Features, Editor's PicksAnna SeamanApril 26, 2023Photography, ExhibitionComment

A Porous Practice: Mohamed Ahmed Ibrahim

One of the most prolific artists in the UAE, Mohamed Ahmed Ibrahim crafts his work in the mountains of Sharjah’s Khorfakkan and represents his nation at the 2022 Venice Biennale.

In The Absence Of Colour

Patricia Millns is an artistic institution in the UAE. At Maraya Art Centre, in October 2022, she will have her her first solo exhibition in a decade.

Editor's Picks, ReviewsAnna SeamanSeptember 13, 2022Patricia Millns, Maraya Art Centre, Nina Heydemann

Xposure: Agents of Change

The fifth edition of Sharjah’s Xposure International Photography Festival showed the power of photography to make real and lasting change and the impact of a story well told.

Reviews, Editor's PicksAnna SeamanMarch 21, 2021Xposure, Sharjah

Enter The Age of Anxiety

Art In The Age of Anxiety: a timely, tightly curated exhibition of contemporary art, so relevant for our current era and enlightening in its presentation

Reviews, Editor's PicksAnna SeamanSeptember 24, 2020Jenna Sutela, Omar Kholeif, Sharjah Art Foundation, Sharjah, Hoor Al Qasimi

Game Changer

Sheikha Hoor Al Qasimi is a true game changer. Thanks to her work at the Sharjah Art Foundation, she has led the way to great regional impact that has created ripples around the world. She is passionate, hard working and visionary - a real asset to the art and cultural landscape in the UAE and beyond.

Mohamed Melehi exhibition to open six months after postponement

A retrospective show of the work of Mohamed Melehi will go on display in Dubai next month. Melehi was one of the pioneering artists of his generation and a founder of the radical Casablanca school.

As restrictions are lifted, galleries start to reopen

You still need to make an appointment but thanks to the lifting of restrictions across Dubai, galleries are beginning to reopen their doors. Alserkal Avenue has a temporary entrance for temperature checks and don’t forget to wear your face mask.

Rearranging the Riddle: Shaikha Al Mazrou

Just before the Covid-19 pandemic shut down normal life, Shaikha Al Mazrou opened her first institutional show at Maraya Art Centre. It remains closed but there is a new video up on the Maraya site and here is my short review to help you enjoy the show until you can see it in person.

Isolation life: 5 online art shows worth checking out

Don’t let isolation get you down. Here is a round up of five digital art displays, showcasing art from across the region to brighten up your day and provide some much needed cultural impetus.

Enter the #LivingRoom with Lawrie Shabibi

Galleries all over the region are coming up with innovative ways to keep us entertained in quarantine. Here is a selection of Lawrie Shabibi’s content

Photography's power to protect

Taking a look back at some highlights of last year. This is a round up of the best and most powerful images at Xpsoure photography festival in Sharjah. In dark times, photography has great power.

Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi: The Interview

Collector, patron, supporter, commentator, inspiration. Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi has worked at raising the profile of Arab art across the world, for more than a decade.

Wolf Tone: a group exhibition

Wolf Tone is a group exhibition that I curated in Dubai’s XVA Gallery. Here is the curatorial essay.