The webmagazine Middle East Monitor has just published my interview with Tours-based Algerian artist Massinissa Selmani.
The artist has just wrapped up his latest solo show, “Le calme de l’idée fixe”, at the Centre de Création Contemporaine Olivier Debré in Tours. In the show, visitors can admire different series of drawings, where political and historical innuendos meet an interest in architecture and landscape.
Here is the link to the article
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At the beginning of 2019 I realized one of my yearly reportages on contemporary art in Thailand. Among the most interesting artists I have interviewed is Tawatchai Puntusawasdi; our conversation has just been published on CoBo.
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CoBo has just published my interview with Maline Yim, which I realized some time ago during my Cambodia reportage, adding some reflections based on “The Shadow of Change,” her solo exhibition earlier this year at Richard Koh Fine Art in Singapore.
“Yim lives in a house surrounded by a garden, which the artist personally tends to. The flower and plants are protected from the outside by a wall, representing a boundary that likewise allows safety for a life shaped by her gift for art-making. Here, Yim can be the nurturer—of her plants, her family and her art practice. “
Here is the link to the interview
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One of the most relevant Malaysian artists of her generation, Yogyakarta-based Nadiah Bamadhaj uses sculpture, drawing, collage and video to challenge the restrictive societal norms in Southeast Asian countries and explore body politics.
I have interviewed her for the webmagazine Qantara
Here is the link to the interview
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At the beginning of the year I have realized a reportage on Thai contemporary art. The webmagazine CoBo Social has just published my interview with artist Noraset Vaisayakul.
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My article on Italian colonialism in Libya has just been published by Middle East Eye. The piece explores how filmmakers and artists are exploring a largely neglected history of Italy’s presence in Libya in the 20th century.
It took me some three months to get all the voices together and get a clear picture of history. Thought I’m taking the art lens, this artist and country and type of research is a bit outside my comfort zone, so I was tempted to stop at what I had a few times.
It took a very determined editor to allow me to go all the way down with it. Like all the difficult things in life, this allowed me to bring my understanding and writing to a new level.
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My research on Morocco and its contemporary art scene continues on the webmagazine Middle East Monitor. This time I take a look at an extraordinary Biennale in the Moroccan city of Rabat.
I have interview Rabat Biennal’s curator, the French-Algerian philosopher, art historian and museum director Abdelkader Damani, who has set his mind to change the old ways to rewrite the rules of the art game.
Here is the link to the interview
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For my second collaboration with the magazine Qantara I have interviewed Indonesian writer Feby indirani. I loved her book “Not Virgin Mary”, which has been recently translated in Italian by Prof. Antonia Soriente and published by Add Editore. The book provided a light-hearted and almost zen perspective on Islam in Indonesia.
I met Feby in Rome during her European book tour. I have found out she is not only an excellent writer but also a lovely person; we had a wonderful conversation.
Here is the link to the interview
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Rome’s favourite contemporary art webmagazine, Art a Part of Culture has just published my interview with the emerging artist Leonardo Crudi. It’s written in Italian – a language I take much more fun and freedom in. So, if you can read, you’ll find it a bit gonzoish.
I greatly enjoyed the works of this young street-artist-turned-Russian-avant-garde lover, and thanks to curator Tiziano Tancredi (who curated the show together with Giovanni Argan) I manage to keep in touch with the up-and-coming scene of the city I live in (most of the times)
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In their wonderful graphic novel/field journal “The Crack” photographer Carlos Spottorno and journalist Guillermo Abril report the unfolding of Europeʹs migrant crisis from Africa to the Arctic over the course of three years. Their aim is to identify the causes and consequences of Europeʹs identity crisis.
I have interviewed the two reporters for Qantara, a webmagazine promoting cultural exchange, based in Germany. I’m super-excited because of this new collaboration, which allows me to bring back my explorations in foreign realities back to my homeland Europe.
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The webmagazine Cobo has just published my interview with Thai artist Jakkai Siributr. This particular conversation has really provided clarity to shed new light on the whole month-long reportage I did in Thailand at the beginning of the year.
I have found this happens every reportage. There is always one conversation that reveals a particular key to read the reality your are exploring, or throws in a few challenges and reflections that stay with me long after the field research is finished.
Often that key comes from a figure – like Jakkai in this case – who has extensive knowledge of both Eastern and Western contemporary art practices, and is able to bridge the two through the narrative of his life.
There are few others interview to go to conclude the material I have collected with this reportage in Thailand, and can’t wait to share it more with you. But for the time being…
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I have a growing interest for Marocco and the way contemporary art is developing in this country. This time I discussed the emerging art scene with curator, artist and gallerist Yasmine Laraqui founder of Dasthe Art Space and Agency in Casablanca for Middle East Monitor.
Here is the link to the interview
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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
