Back to my favourite tradition: the year in review.
Let’s start by admitting that 2025 has been quite the year.
I might call it the year of travelling and aventure, as I was constantly on the go. But perhaps I also might think of it as the year I felt more at home in the world. It has been truly an amazing sensation to be in Malta, Taipei, Doha, Seoul, Jeddah, or wherever—and feel like I was just a few blocks away from home.
While, as human beings, we are bound to never fully transcend our human-centered perspective, art offers a means to glimpse beyond our own biases and limitations, imagining a world where animals and humans interact on equal terms.
I have written an essay on the presence of animals in art for The Markaz Review.
Here is the link to the article
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We’ve all heard the joke about art lovers who don’t necessarily celebrate Christmas and Easter, but they definitely celebrate Frieze and Art Basel. This ritualistic aspect of the art world hasn’t escaped Asia NOW, whose tenth anniversary show is aptly titled ‘Ceremony’.
Guided by the ethos of positioning itself not just as another art fair, but as a curated platform presenting Asia to a European audience, Asia NOW has chosen the artistic direction of Radicants, the curatorial cooperative founded by Nicolas Bourriaud, for its main exhibition.
I have written about it for The Art Newspaper France.
Here is the link to the article
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This summer I visited for the first time Marseille, to do a little research on the comic book scene there. I have found an incredible lively scene, which provided me with many insights about art, life, and how a community comes together around shared values.
I wrote the piece in Italian for the webmagazine Art a Part of Culture.
Here is the link to the article
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My latest piece about Seoul for an Italian architecture and design magazine I started collaborating with, called IFDM design. The piece is about architecture, heritage, the coolest neighbourhoods and best spaces for art in the Korean capital.
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I have written a text for Desmond Mah’s exhibition “Twisted Bodies Tell Their Tales,” from 16th October to 9th November, 2024. The show is part of the 2nd Indian Ocean Craft Triennial 2024 and will take place at Mossenson Galleries, Western Australia.
Find the complete text below
Read More![Image part of Randa Mirza parallel Universes series [Randa Mirza]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Randa-Mirza-parallel-universes-untitled4-scaled-e1726676386175.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1)
Over two decades, Mirza has built a body of work that spans different mediums, although photography is her chosen tool for chronicling the ever-shifting landscape of Beirut. Her home city, with its complex post-war realities and the resilience of its people, is at the core of her most recent exhibition “BEIRUTOPIA” at the Rencontre D’Arles festival.
I spoke with the artist in Marseille for Middle East Monitor.
Here is the link to the interview
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My new article for the Financia Times is about a new breed of Korean collectors, the so-called Generation MZ, a terms tha stands for millennials and Gen-Z.
They are focused on works under $50,000, either buying with family money or their own entrepreneurial cash, including at the upcoming Frieze and Kiaf fairs.
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I have been interested in Libyan art, culture, and literature – as well as its relationship with its Italian colonial past – for a few years now. And every time I look at this country through a different facet, there is so much to discover.
This time I looked at the erasure of the colonial architectural heritage in Benghazi and Tripoli, gathering different viewpoints from Libyans, and their memories attached to these buildings.
I wrote the story for Al-Jazeera, with the title “Cultural treasure or painful reminder? Libya’s colonial architecture.”
Here is the link to the article
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In her work, currently on show both in Athens and at the Venice Biennale, Moroccan Artist Bouchra Khalili highlights the power of storytelling for the disenfranchised subjects of history.
Here is the link to the article
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As Hong Kong is gearing up for its art week, I have spoken with collectors and gallerists for the Financial Times to see how the art market is a bit more fragmented than it used to be.
Here is the link to the article
![Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art in Doha [Naima Morelli]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/030941cf4fa69dd0-photo.jpg?fit=1067%2C800&ssl=1)
With shows that range from political stances to introspective research, Doha’s Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art proves itself to be one of the most authoritative voices for Arab narratives and the Global South in art.
Here is the link to the article
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Naima Morelli is an arts writer and journalist specialized in contemporary art from Asia-Pacific and the MENA region.
She has written for the Financial Times, Al-Jazeera, The Art Newspaper, ArtAsiaPacific, Internazionale and Il Manifesto, among others, and she is a regular contributor to Plural Art Mag, Middle East Monitor and Middle East Eye as well as writing curatorial texts for galleries.
She is the author of three books on Southeast Asian contemporary art.
Reach out: contact [at] naimamorelli.com
