The Markaz Review has published my latest article called “My Love for Derna: Interview with Libyan Writer Mahbuba Khalifa”
Mahbuba Khalifa, a Libyan philosophy graduate, is an author and poet from flood-devastated Derna, often called Libya’s “city of poets.” She has devoted her most recent book to the city of her childhood and adolescence.
Here is the link to the interview
My latest story: “Contemporary Libyan art is looking back at its recent and ancient history”, has just been published on the beautiful Hadara Magazine.
I spoke with curator Najlaa Elageli, artists Tewa Barnosa, Shefa Salem and many others.
Artist Marwa Benhalim told me there is an invisible line dividing Libya. I tried to guess what it was. But of the many divisions splitting Libya in two, I wouldn’t have ever thought about this one: couscous and rice.
She explains to me that on the western side of Libya, there are semolina fields, and all the main dishes are based on couscous.
On the eastern side, it’s all rice crops, and you can find rice-based recipes: “The couscous side of Libya was influenced by commerce with Morocco and Tunisia, the other side had rice comes from Asia through Egypt. Trade stopped in the middle because there is a very large desert,” she says. “Through the food people eat, you can really understand the history of a country.”
I have interviewed the artist for The New Arab.
Read More![The work of Alessandra Ferrini [Image courtesy of the artist]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/alessandra-ferrini-maxxi.jpg?resize=1200%2C630&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
Middle East Monitor has just published my latest article titled: “Artist Alessandra Ferrini explores the complex relationship between Libya and Italy.”
The article is based on an interview with London-based Italian artist Alessandra Ferrini, who deepens the conversation around colonial and recent Libyan history, creating work about the manipulation of information, colonial memory, trauma and reparations.
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I’m writing about Libyan contemporary art once again, this time for The New Arab, a magazine I regularly read, and I’m happy to start collaborating with.
The piece is based on an interview with Libyan curator Wareda Elmehdawi, who seeks to shed light on the richness of Libyan art history through her family’s work with the historical Tripoli Art House.
Read More![A new show in Tripoli looks at 70 years of Libya’s consumer culture. [Photo By Najlaa Elageli]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/A-new-show-in-Tripoli-looks-at-70-years-of-Libyas-consumer-culture.jpg?resize=1200%2C800&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
Since I started writing about Libya in 2021, I grew more and more interested in the history of the country and how artists and people in the cultural field are retelling the Libyan story.
So clearly I was so excited to learn from curator Najlaa Elageli about this show she put up in Tripoli’s old medina with artists Hadia Gana and Alla Budabbus, called “The Libyan Pantry Project.” I had to write about it!
By the way, this is my 50th piece for Middle East Monitor. What an honour collaborating with them for such a long time!
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My article about female/feminist literature in Libya was published – in its Dutch translation – on the 214 December issue of the magazine 360.
Here is the link to the piece online
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My first article for Al Jazeera has just been published. It’s called “The writers retelling Libya’s history through a feminist lens” and tells how Libya’s women novelists (but not exclusively them) are reframing the country’s stories in a post-Gaddafi era.
I worked on it for a long time, and it was very satisfying to get to write a longform piece with a bit more of a narrative style. Also, I got to know this county a little deeper, not just through its visual art but also through literature. For the piece I have interviewed, among others, writers Kawther Eljehmi, Maryem Salama, Manuela Piemonte Mahbuba Khalifa, and Mariza d’Anna, and publisher Ghassan Fergiani.
Al-Monitor has just published my interview with Libyan photographer and photojournalist Nada Harib. Her work is all about hope in the face of adversity and beauty in the midst of pain.
With her photographs widely exhibited in and outside Libya, from the Institut du Monde Arabe in France to the Tropenmuseum in Amsterdam, Harib’s work tells stories that have been forgotten or repressed during her country’s many turbulent phases.
It’s another step for me and Al-Monitor’s readers to learn more about the culture and humanity of Libya, beyond the news reports.
Here is the link to the interview
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What does it mean to be Libyan? How to reconstruct a sense of belonging for the country and its people, starting from the deepest roots of Libyan culture, while preserving diversity?
These are the questions that artist, Shefa Salem, is grappling with for her first solo show I am Libya, which took place a few weeks ago in the Barah Arts and Culture Centre in Benghazi and will travel to Tripoli’s old city at the beginning of December.
I have interviewed the artist for Middle East Monitor.
Here is the link to the interview
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Despite a lack of cultural spaces, as well as ongoing political and economic instability, Libyan artists are determined to nurture their diverse arts scene.
I have spoken to a few of these important figures, working from Tripoli, Benghazi or from abroad, for Middle East Eye.
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It has been a few months now that I have been working on two articles about Libyan contemporary art for the webmagazine Middle East Eye.
The first one of the two just came out. Here we look at the younger talents in the country and in the diaspora, Shefa Salem, Tewa Barnosa, Mohamed Abumeis, Malak El Ghuel and Faiza Ramadan, with the observation from gallerist and expert Najlaa Elageli from Noon Arts.
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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
