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
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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.
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“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
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I have written a text for Desmond Mah’s exhibition “Twisted Bodies Tell Their Tales,” from 16th October to 9th November, 2024. The show is part of the 2nd Indian Ocean Craft Triennial 2024 and will take place at Mossenson Galleries, Western Australia.
Find the complete text below
Read More![Image part of Randa Mirza parallel Universes series [Randa Mirza]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Randa-Mirza-parallel-universes-untitled4-scaled-e1726676386175.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1)
Over two decades, Mirza has built a body of work that spans different mediums, although photography is her chosen tool for chronicling the ever-shifting landscape of Beirut. Her home city, with its complex post-war realities and the resilience of its people, is at the core of her most recent exhibition “BEIRUTOPIA” at the Rencontre D’Arles festival.
I spoke with the artist in Marseille for Middle East Monitor.
Here is the link to the interview
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My new article for the Financia Times is about a new breed of Korean collectors, the so-called Generation MZ, a terms tha stands for millennials and Gen-Z.
They are focused on works under $50,000, either buying with family money or their own entrepreneurial cash, including at the upcoming Frieze and Kiaf fairs.
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Born in Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan, shortly before the end of the USSR, artist Gulnur Mukazhanovahas been working with textiles since beginning her practice, and influenced by Kazakh traditions, employs felt as a primary material.
Spiritual and emotional, her abstractions are informed by issues concerning identity and the transformation of traditional values of her native culture in the age of globalization.
I have interviewed the artist for The Times of Central Asia
Here is the link to the interview
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I have been interested in Libyan art, culture, and literature – as well as its relationship with its Italian colonial past – for a few years now. And every time I look at this country through a different facet, there is so much to discover.
This time I looked at the erasure of the colonial architectural heritage in Benghazi and Tripoli, gathering different viewpoints from Libyans, and their memories attached to these buildings.
I wrote the story for Al-Jazeera, with the title “Cultural treasure or painful reminder? Libya’s colonial architecture.”
Here is the link to the article
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My latest piece for the Times of Central Asia is entitled “Almaty’s Aspan Gallery Champions Central Asian Art at Home and Abroad.” For this article, I have interview Aspan Gallery’s director Meruyert Kaliyeva.
Here is the link to the interview
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In her work, currently on show both in Athens and at the Venice Biennale, Moroccan Artist Bouchra Khalili highlights the power of storytelling for the disenfranchised subjects of history.
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The Kazakh pavilion “Jerūiyq: Journey Beyond the Horizon” at the 60th International Art Exhibition of the Venice Biennale, from April 20 to November 24, represents a major milestone in changing perceptions of Kazakh art.
Staged in the Naval Historical Museum, the exhibition reinterprets the ancient legend of Jerūiyq, drawing inspiration from Kazakh myths and the visionary journey of the 15th-century philosopher Asan Kaigy.
I have interviewed the Pavillion’s curator Anvar Musrepov for The Times of Central Asia.
Here is the link to the interview
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Aside from big names such as Marina Abramović, the Balkan region is little known globally, making it ripe for collectors.
I have interviewed some of these artists, collectors and galleries for the Financial Times.
Here is the link to the article
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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
