Qataris Call for Safeguarding a Heritage That’s Slipping Away
Native citizens are a minority in the rapidly changing and modernizing Gulf country. A panel in Doha discussed how to preserve their “intangible cultural heritage.”
In New York, More Eyes Turn to Middle Eastern Art
The art calendar begins a new season with a number of exhibitions that reflect growing interest in Arab artists and Arab-world art themes.
New Waves: How Moroccan Artist Mohamed Melehi Shaped an Aesthetic
An intimately scaled retrospective of Moroccan artist Mohammed Melehi in London shows how abstract expressionism in the Middle East was culturally inspired.
A New Museum in Lebanon Raises Questions About Archaeological Looting
Experts acknowledge the “noble intentions” of the privately owned Nabu Museum north of Beirut, but a debate also simmers over items in its collection that came from Iraq.
For Emirati Artist Farah Al Qasimi, Her Photographs ‘Filter’ Her World
Teaching and working in New York, the artist opens viewers to new possibilities of seeing the mundane with curiosity and wonder.
Arab Artists at the World’s Premier Art Event: ‘Art in an Era of Lies’
The Venice Biennale displays the strengths of Arab artists working today and some of the political pitfalls that can await them.
An Iraqi Artist Explores the Spiritual Echoes of Migration
Through animation and painting, Sadik Kwaish Alfraji confronts the human condition of having to leave one’s home and settle elsewhere.
An Adroit Artist Expresses the Breadth of Female Power and Beauty
A retrospective of works by Mohammad El Rawas melds lifelong themes with big political questions and allusions to the power of female forms.
Emirati Artist’s Playful Exhibition Transcends His Local Environment
Mohamed Ahmed Ibrahim, a key figure in the Emirates’ avant-garde art scene, uses vivid colors in works that blur the line between painting and sculpture.
An Artist Claims Her Place With Sculptural Statements
The Saudi conceptual artist Filwa Nazer redefines herself in works that explore inner spaces and the “skins” people don to protect them.
