Middle East | Naima Morelli

Published! Cleopatra at the Paris Arab World Institute exhibition for The New Arab

14-07-2025

English, Interview, Middle East, News, North Africa, Published

There are historical characters that are no longer themselves. They become archetypes and symbols for us to project upon. Cleopatra is one such character.

The Mystery of Cleopatra, a newly opened exhibition at the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris, investigates this very aspect of the Egyptian queen.

Drawing on historical sources that retrace who Cleopatra was, the exhibition examines what she has been made to represent — and how her story might now be told differently.

I interviewed the exhibition’s curator for The New Arab.

Here is the link to the article

Published! VIMA art fair in Cyprus for Times of Central Asia

By: Naima Morelli

30-05-2025

Central Asia, Interview, Middle East, News, Published

In the art world, fairs often have a meteoric rise and fall in an oversaturated market of competing events. But every so often, one lands with a quiet, deliberate weight, embedding itself in the soil of its context and revitalizing it. Vima in Limassol, Cyprus, is one such project.

Unfolding in a transformed wine warehouse near the sea, VIMA resisted the sterile polish of typical fair venues. Here, the Mediterranean wind mingled with the hum of languages, from Russian to Arabic, Greek, and Turkish, to English.

The fair was founded by three Russians who have established themselves in Cyprus – Edgar Gadzhiev, Lara Kotreleva, and Nadezhda Zinovskaya – all of whom have brought a deep well of curatorial and institutional experience from Central Asia, Eurasia, and beyond.

I have interviewed the three founders for Times of Central Asia.

Here is the link to the article

Published! VIMA Cyprus Fair Report on The Observer

By: Naima Morelli

22-05-2025

Middle East, News, Published, Reportage, Research, Visit

A crowd of visitors walks through a large industrial exhibition hall with stone walls and exposed beams, viewing booths from galleries including ΓΚΑΡΑΖ art space and Alpha C.K. Art Gallery at the VIMA Art Fair.

Beyond its commercial ambitions, the inaugural edition of VIMA art fair carved out space to consider Cyprus’ complex geopolitical position. I wrote a report on the fair for the Observer.

Here is the link to the article

Published! Gaza’s rescued treasures at the Arab World Institute in Paris for The New Arab

By: Naima Morelli

10-04-2025

Middle East, Published

The Arab World Institute’s exhibition on Gaza’s archaeological treasures offers European visitors a vital glimpse into the history of the Palestinian enclave.

I wrote the piece for The New Arab

Here is the link to the article

Published! Mapping Beirut through comics on MEMO

By: Naima Morelli

04-04-2025

Middle East, News, Published, Research

BEYROUTH YA BEYROUTH » / LE JOURNAL BIENTOT DISPONIBLE AU LIBAN Une… | serge darpeix

I wrote for Middle East Monitor an article about “Beyrouth Ya Beyrouth”, a comic book collection in the form of a newspaper created last year by the comic book festival “Rencontres du 9e Art, Festival BD d’Aix” at Aix-en-Provence in the South of France.

The collection sees a group of Lebanese artists sharing different sides of Beirut that are less known to the media. Rather than focusing on the crises and turmoil, they aim to capture the city’s everyday life, emotions and experiences through the medium of comics.

Here is the link to the article

Published!Nadia Saikali and Beirut as the centre of abstract art on MEMO

By: Naima Morelli

03-02-2025

Interview, Middle East, News, Published

Nadia Saikali and Her Contemporaries show at Maraya Art Centre in Sharjah

The show “Nadia Saikali and Her Contemporaries” at Maraya Art Centre in Sharjah until 2 August is dedicated to pioneering abstract artist Saikali, and the influence that she had on modernism in the Arab world and beyond.

This is the first of two pieces which I have written of the show, and has been just published by Middle East Monitor.

Here is the link to the piece

Published! Gerome in Doha for Middle East Monitor

By: Naima Morelli

23-12-2024

English, Middle East, Published

Installation view of Seeing is Believing The Art and Influence of Gérôme Courtesy of MATHAF Arab Museum of Modern Art and Lusail Museum Doha

Middle East Monitor has published by review of the exhibition Seeing is Believing: The Art and Influence of Gérôme at Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art.

The French artist, who lived and worked in the 1800s, was extremely influential in his depictions of the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia, shaping Western perceptions of these regions during the very century when colonialism and so-called “Oriental Studies” were entrenching global power dynamics.

Here is the link to the article

Published! Interview with Mirna Bamieh on MEMO

By: Naima Morelli

21-11-2024

Interview, Middle East

My interview with Palestinian artist Mirna Bamieh has been published by Middle East Monitor.

“In the past few months I have been making, just making, making, making those pieces and trying to translate emotions into colours and glazes and firing them and creating this alchemy of understanding around them,” she explained. Her move to Lisbon, added Mirna, is a welcome pause from producing so much work.

However, one conviction resonates very strongly with her; whether in a commercial context like the fair, an experimental gallery like Nika, or an institution like Shanghai: she believes in the meaning of standing up for what’s right. “As a Palestinian, all my life I was told that my voice is not important,” she concluded. “But it is. It is very important. It is very important to speak up.”

Here is the link to the interview

Published! Rethinking Animals in Contemporary Art for The Markaz Review

By: Naima Morelli

04-11-2024

Essay, Middle East, North Africa, Published

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

Published! Interview with Dina Mimi on Middle East Monitor

By: Naima Morelli

08-10-2024

Interview, Middle East, Published

I have realized an interview with Palestinian artist Dina Mimi for Middle East Monitor. A compelling voice in the contemporary art scene, Dina Mimi’s work incorporates video, sound, performance and text to investigate the physicality of resistance in Palestine.

Here is the link to the interview

Published! Arab pavillions at the Venice Biennale on Hadara

By: Naima Morelli

02-10-2024

Italy, Middle East, News, North Africa, Published, Reportage

Being a foreigner is more than a state of mind. It is a state of the soul. The foreigner’s journey can be painful or enriching. Often it is both, as illustrated by a number of Arab artists at the 60th International Art Exhibition in Venice, which continues through November 24.

Stranieri Ovunque, or Foreigners Everywhere, the theme of the Biennale chosen by curator Adriano Pedrosa, subverts the linear Western art trajectory by bringing outsider narratives to the forefront. The theme allows for explorations of identity, ethnicity, gender and belonging.

Published! Interview with Saudi artist Manal AlDowayan for Hadara

By: Naima Morelli

02-10-2024

Interview, Middle East, Published, Research

“Forty-five minutes before the preview opening of the Venice Biennale in April, there was already a long line of sleepy people waiting at the Arsenale. Half were elegantly dressed Arab women.

When Saudi artist Manal AlDowayan showed up a few minutes later with a big red smile, she was greeted by a peal of excited squeals. The line scattered, and the artist was cocooned for a group selfie. “They are Manal’s cousins,” explained an amused man in the line.

Most of these women have never been to the Venice Biennale before. It was AlDowayan’s participation that drew them. This was a chance to root for their heroine while enjoying what in Saudi Arabia has become the chicest of activities: art appreciation.”

My second piece interview with Manal has been published on the Saudi Magazine Hadara.

Here is the link to the interview

Naima Morelli

Published! Cleopatra at the Paris Arab World Institute exhibition for The New Arab

Published! VIMA art fair in Cyprus for Times of Central Asia

Published! VIMA Cyprus Fair Report on The Observer

Published! Gaza’s rescued treasures at the Arab World Institute in Paris for The New Arab

Published! Mapping Beirut through comics on MEMO

Published!Nadia Saikali and Beirut as the centre of abstract art on MEMO

Published! Gerome in Doha for Middle East Monitor

Published! Interview with Mirna Bamieh on MEMO

Published! Rethinking Animals in Contemporary Art for The Markaz Review

Published! Interview with Dina Mimi on Middle East Monitor

Published! Arab pavillions at the Venice Biennale on Hadara

Published! Interview with Saudi artist Manal AlDowayan for Hadara

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