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.
“A few months ago, the director of the Palestine Museum US, Faisal Saleh, was in a room in Venice with members of the commission for the 2024 Venice Art Biennale. They tried to explain to him why his proposal for a collateral exhibition of Palestinian artists was rejected.
Saleh is not only Palestinian, but also very American in his ethos. So, he told me, when the Biennale spokesperson tried to convince him that art and politics have to be kept separate, he didn’t hesitate to tell them, ‘Well, I may not be as much of an expert on art as you are, but I do know that politics and art are intertwined. You can’t really separate one from the other.’ “
Faisal Saleh, director of the Palestine Museum US has started a petition to have a Palestinian-only collateral show at the Venice Biennale 2024. I spoke with him for Middle East Monitor.
“I see the beauty in many places, many times, and I have always wanted to interrupt conversations to point out what I see,” says Palestinian artist Samia Halaby. “I learned not to do so, and share beauty through painting.”
Today in her eighties, Samia Halaby is a pioneer of abstract painting and a central figure in Palestinian art, with an artistic career that started in the late 1950s and was also accompanied by a strong commitment to the liberation of her country.
I have written the curatorial text for the new show “Descendants of the Dragons” by Singapore-based Kazakh artist Inessa Kalabekova at the Music Box Museum. The show opened on 1 December, and will run until 31 January 2024.
I have interviewed independent researcher, curator and artist Adam HajYahia for Al-Monitor.
Adam’s exploration of structural and hierarchical violence and its intersections with capitalist, colonial, sexual and social dynamics took material shape recently in an exhibition called “Carnal Politics: Sex, Desire and Anti-Colonial Deviance in Mandate Palestine.”
My latest piece about Nabil Anani’s new show, currently at Zawyeh Gallery, just came out for The New Arab.
Nabil is one of the founders of the contemporary Palestinian art movement. His works highlight Palestine’s folkloric culture and seek to foster national pride beyond Israel’s 75-year occupation.
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.
From spiritual heights to the depths of the flesh, Malaysian artist Yeoh Choo Kuan has filtered the broad spectrum of human emotions and tension through the medium of abstract painting.
I have always felt a special kinship with the artwork of artist Yeoh Choo Kuan. A few years ago I wrote the texts for his monograph published by Richard Koh Fine Art, and a couple of months ago I have interviewed him for ArtAsiaPacific about his recent Singapore show.
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!
I have written a new article on Ming Wong’s project Wayang Spaceship at the Singapore Art Museum for the Singapore Art week Plural Art Magazine.
The work blends traditional performances and science fiction, associating found photographs of Wayang actors from Singapore and Malaysia from the 1950s-70s to illustrations of Soviet space exploration and science fiction from the same period. Wong also added layers of Chinese brush paintings and dichroic film that change colour at different angles.
My interview with Vietnamese artist Trần Trọng Vũ has just been published on ArtAsiaPacific’s website.
I met the artist for his big show at A2Z gallery in Paris last October, and we did the interview half in French, half in English! Phew! It was fun, and the artist was extremely generous and kind – his work, ça va sans dire, is incredible!
Some of you know that my next cohesive research will be in Vietnam. I will spend one month there, most likely next year, so this interview adds a big piece to my understanding of art coming from the country!
“My works stem from personal experiences so naturally whatever’s around me would seep into my works,” says leading Thai artist Pinaree Sanpitak, who I have recently interviewed for Culture360.
With a deep knowledge of materials, as well as a strong conceptual vision, her artworks address motherhood, womanhood, and a deep investigation of the self – often with references to her native Thai culture.
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.