Over the past three years, there has been a shift in perception around the Saudi Arabian art scene, and at this year’s Desert X AlUla, artists benefitted from freer expression.
I have review the art festival for the German webmagazine Qantara.
Here is the link to the article
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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.
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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.
Here is the link to the article
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I have written about Indonesian emerging artist Victoria Kosasie – whose work I discovered thanks to the Bandung Contemporary Art Awards – for the November/December issue of ArtAsiaPacific.
Undoubtedly one of the most important magazines about contemporary art in Asia, writing for ArtAsiaPacific has always been a goal of mine since starting researching Southeast Asia more than 10 years ago. This is my second piece for them.
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“I believe in destiny. And indeed the way I began with photography was a complete accident,” says Palestinian artist Rula Halawani: “It was just something that came to me.”
Born in Jerusalem in 1964, Halawani is influencing generations of young artists and photographers, both with her rich oeuvre, exhibited in shows, Biennales, and art fairs around the world, as well as her role as an art teacher and professor at Birzeit University in Palestine. I spoke to her for Al-Monitor.
Here is the link to the interview
Read More![Nameer Qassim, “Enough”, 2020, Acrylic on canvas, 100x100 cm [Courtesy of The Palestinian Museum US]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Nameer-Qassim-Enough-2020-Acrylic-on-canvas-100x100-cm.-1-e1651149649212.jpg?resize=930%2C620&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
Curated by Nancy Nesvet, head curator at the Palestine Museum in the US, the exhibition “From Palestine With Art” features 19 Palestinian artists from Palestine and across the diaspora.
“This is the strongest Palestinian presentation ever,” said Faisal Saleh, director of the Palestine Museum US. “In terms of the size, and the boldness of its pieces, it is a very significant, strong presentation. I think this is going to have a very big impact and get the Palestinian name out in a big way.”
I have reviewed the show for Middle East Monitor.
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“Dinh Q. Lê: Photographing the thread of memory” at the musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac in Paris marks the first comprehensive introduction of Lê’s weaving work to a European audience.
The show comprises three different bodies of work from the 1990s to present day. The first section, “Light and Belief”, is focused on Vietnam, with reference to the Vietnam War and the experience of the Vietnamese diaspora. “Splendor and Darkness” looks at the genocide carried out by he Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. Lastly, “Adrift in Darkness” utilises images of migrants to reflect on the tragedies of crossing the Mediterranean by boat.
I down with the artist for CoBo Social, to talk about the themes of his new show and his weaving process.
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The webmagazine Al-Monitor has just published my article on the exhibition “Art in the Age of Anxiety” at the Sharjah Art Foundation.
The exhibition (now postponed) looked at online technology and communications feeding existential angst. It seems more relevant than ever today amid the global fears due to the coronavirus outbreak and the extensive information available.
Here is the link to the article
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The exhibition at Palestinian Museum “Glimmer of a Grove Beyond” aims to outline the links between landscape representations and historical circumstances, through the medium of political posters.
Such posters came to prominence in Palestine between the mid-1960s and late-1980s as a means of motivating and mobilising political support in the national movement and revolution, and its armed struggle.
Here is the link to the article
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The webmagazine Middle East Monitor has just published my review of the excellent theater play “Libya. Back Home” by Paola Di Mitri, with texts by Miriam Selima Fieno, Giancarlo Fieno and Khalifa Abo Khraisse. It was presented last week at the Romaeuropa Festival.
I’m starting researching a bit Italian colonialism in North Africa, and in Libya in particular, so it was extremely interesting to see this artistic re-elaboration who tackles this subjects, among many important others.
Here is the link to the review
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A new article of mine in Italian has just been published on the webmagazine Art a Part of Cult(ure). It’s an interview with the three authors of the great graphic novel “Il Re di Bangkok”, Claudio Sopranzetti, Sara Fabbri, Chiara Natalucci, published by ADD Editore.
It was serendipitous to read this work right after my reportage in Thailand, at a time when I’m delving deeper into the graphic novel world.
Here is the link to the interview
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Hong-Kong based website and platform for collectors CoBo Social has just published my review of the Southeast Asian Pavilions at the 2019 Venice Biennale. I looked at the different national propositions with interest and a bit of a critical eye as well.
Here is the link to the review
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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
