My piece on the light art festival Noor Riyadh has just been published on Al-Monitor.
“Standing in the middle of the King Abdullah Financial District (KAFD) in Riyadh, a swarm of drones creates delicate constellations on the horizon. A virtuoso is playing the piano on a stage, complementing the 3,000-drone performance conceived by Studio Drift — an artist duo formed by Dutch artists Lonneke Gordijn and Ralph Nauta — called ‘Desert Swarm’.”
Here is the link to the article
The Italian Magazine Arabpop has just published my interview with Libyan artist Marwa Benhalim in Italian, with the title “The history of the world in a fist of couscous.”
This issue magazine themed “feast” is now out in the press.
What is the role of art in times of conflict? I wrote a piece about it for Middle East Monitor, centered on the art light festival, Manar Abu Dhabi, curated by Reem Fadda and Alia Zaal Lootah from 15 November 2023. The festival runs to 30 January 2024.
Here is the link to the article
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The Markaz Review has published my latest article called “My Love for Derna: Interview with Libyan Writer Mahbuba Khalifa”
Mahbuba Khalifa, a Libyan philosophy graduate, is an author and poet from flood-devastated Derna, often called Libya’s “city of poets.” She has devoted her most recent book to the city of her childhood and adolescence.
Here is the link to the interview
I have a new piece out on the weekend edition of the Financial Times, called “Central Asia in the spotlight at Asia Now fair.”
The article looks at how craft, nomadism and spirituality feature prominently in the region’s artistic practices, and are the focus on the art fair Asia Now, happening next week in Paris.
I wrote a piece for The Markaz Review, wondering whether curators who organize international exhibitions and develop books aren’t in fact public intellectuals. With interviews to @roseissaprojects @punkorientalism @farah.abushullaih
“Contrary to popular belief, it remains true that the specter of the intellectual still haunts the art world. The only thing that has changed is the mask they now hide behind — that of ‘curator.’ The current dislike of the word intellectual runs just as deep as our love for the word “curator.” ‘
![Team photo from left to right:
Amélie Kalafat (Artistic assistant)
Clara Alabed Alnaef, (Partnership & communication),Joanna Chevalier (Artistic director), Laure d’Hauteville (Founder & fair director), Tara El Khoury Mikhaël (Gallery relations), Léonie Racy (Scenographer), Camelia Esmaili, (Special Project Advisor) [@Irenederosen]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/2%C2%B0-equipe-menart-fair-2023-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C798&ssl=1)
The successful Menart Fair, that has just concluded in Paris, is showing how artists from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) are leading the conversation, while also opening up new perspectives in the European cultural arena.
I wrote the piece for Middle East Monitor
Here is the link to the article
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My latest story: “Contemporary Libyan art is looking back at its recent and ancient history”, has just been published on the beautiful Hadara Magazine.
I spoke with curator Najlaa Elageli, artists Tewa Barnosa, Shefa Salem and many others.
Fruits weave together ancestral longing, anchoring us to home. ‘Double Blessings’ is an exhibition in Chicago that explore this concept through the work four artists who are connected to Palestine. Their art tells stories of consumption and lineage, with food as a common but diverse language.
I have interviewed Noel Maghathe, the curator of the show, for The New Arab.
Here is the link to the article
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With the new art space Wonder Cabinet in Bethlehem, Palestinian architects Elias and Yousef Anastas,are recovering, treasuring and expanding the genius loci of the West Bank.
The kind of impact that the art space is hoping to have is twofold: encouraging the Palestinian art scene to grow beyond Ramallah, while also attracting creatives from around the world to Bethlehem.
I have interview them for Middle East Monitor.
Duty and care are the words that would best describe the approach of Dr Adila Laidi-Hanieh towards the Palestinian Museum in Birzeit.
She is stepping down as director of the museum at the end of this month, and she reflected on her years in charge, changing the institution from the inside out. I have interviewed her for Middle East Monitor
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Artist Marwa Benhalim told me there is an invisible line dividing Libya. I tried to guess what it was. But of the many divisions splitting Libya in two, I wouldn’t have ever thought about this one: couscous and rice.
She explains to me that on the western side of Libya, there are semolina fields, and all the main dishes are based on couscous.
On the eastern side, it’s all rice crops, and you can find rice-based recipes: “The couscous side of Libya was influenced by commerce with Morocco and Tunisia, the other side had rice comes from Asia through Egypt. Trade stopped in the middle because there is a very large desert,” she says. “Through the food people eat, you can really understand the history of a country.”
I have interviewed the artist for The New Arab.
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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
