My fifth piece for Middle East Eye is about a Lebanese comic book which tells forgotten stories of country’s feminist struggle. Called ‘Where to, Marie?’, this comic book distils a century of overlooked feminist battles through the stories of five fictional characters. I have interviewed the authors.
Read More![Palestinian artist Hazem Harb [Hazem Harb]](https://i2.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/hazem.jpg?resize=1199%2C800&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
“Palestinian artist Hazem Harb doesn’t try to define the idea of Palestine in his work. “For me, Palestine just is,” he tells me. “I’m interested in its history and nationalism, but I don’t dwell on them by making straightforward political art. In my work, I’m trying to represent the hidden narratives of Palestine and leave room for individual memories and personal stories to come through.” “
The webmagazine Middle east Monitor has just published my interview with Palestinian artist Hazem Harb.
Here is the link to the interview
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The show Rintagan (Resistance) at Richard Koh Fine Art presents works that don’t come from the mind, but rather from a physical involvement with painting materials. They were first inspired by the virtual realm: “I took pictures from Instagram, and then cropped some details,” explains Haffendi. “So it’s going from the virtual, to the IRL, then – being this an online show – to the virtual again.”
My interview with Malaysian artist Haffendi Anuar has been published on Plural Art Mag.
Here is the link to the interview
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A collection can represent many different things; it can be a statement, contribution, research, even a love story. In the case of retired German doctor, Christoph Bendick, who has worked in Phnom Penh for 25 years, it’s the story of an encounter with a country whose painful recent history is interlaced with the resilience and strength of its people.
I have interviewed the collector for the Singapore-based magazine Plural.
Here is the link to the interview
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Many of us have misconceptions and preconceived ideas about the art scene in the Gulf countries. Hence, when we see the work of a gallery like Hunna/ هُنَّ — founded this year and representing eight women artists from the Gulf — we open our eyes in disbelief.
How can these artists possibly talk about such thorny issues, like questions of power or the female body, and get away with it? We speak about it on Middle East Monitor with the founder of Hunna, gallerist Océane Sailly
Here is the link to the interview
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My second article for the collector’s webmagazine Larry’s List is an interview to Italian fashion mogul and collector Luciano Benetton.
Dubbed “Imago Mundi”, his collection and world-wide project spans from New Zealand to Burkina Faso, covering 80 countries for a total of over 10,000 artworks.
Here is the link to the interview
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Despite a lack of cultural spaces, as well as ongoing political and economic instability, Libyan artists are determined to nurture their diverse arts scene.
I have spoken to a few of these important figures, working from Tripoli, Benghazi or from abroad, for Middle East Eye.
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I’m so proud to announce the publication of the new catalog of late painter Anna Salmoni (Naples 1938 – Florence 2019) called “Intimi Estranei”, which features my critical text. The catalog presents for the first time a comprehensive perspective on the haunting and evocative work that this incredible artist realized over a lifetime.
This book is not only to share these paintings with a wider audience but is also an important step in enhancing the complex artistic production and reading it in a new key, given the contemporary context. Laura Albano – photographer and daughter of the artist – did a huge work of cataloging, sorting, archiving, and tracking down the different works owned by Salmoni’s collectors.
A couple of months ago I have interviewed for Global Comment two of my favourite graphic novel authors, the creative couple Teresa Radice and Stefano Turconi. The interview has just been published; we delved into the creative process behind their most interesting work.
Here is the link to the interview
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It was an honour and a privilege to start my collaboration with Larry’s List with this interview with one of the people I admire and respect the most in the art world: Andonowati.
She is not only a extremely savvy collector with a heightened sensitivity for art, but also an accomplished mathematician, a collector, a gallerist, a business person, an art initiator, and entrepreneur and also an incredibly compassionate and kind human.
I first met her through my research on Bandung-based artist Eddy Susanto and learned about her gallery and foundation Lawangwangi Creative Space in Bandung. In 2010, Andonowati launched the Bandung Contemporary Art Award (BaCAA) — one of the most prestigious art awards in Southeast Asia, which I took part of as a judge in 2019.
Here is the link to the interview
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It has been a few months now that I have been working on two articles about Libyan contemporary art for the webmagazine Middle East Eye.
The first one of the two just came out. Here we look at the younger talents in the country and in the diaspora, Shefa Salem, Tewa Barnosa, Mohamed Abumeis, Malak El Ghuel and Faiza Ramadan, with the observation from gallerist and expert Najlaa Elageli from Noon Arts.
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I’m very happy to announce that “This is how it is” the monograph of Malaysian artist Yeoh Choo Kuan, is finally out, published by Richard Koh Fine Art. I have written the book’s texts that translate and interpret the different phases of the artist’s career, and realized interviews that figure as segments in the book.
The book features also a foreword by curator and critic, Louis Ho and was edited by writer Rosa Maria Falvo. It presents a number of images of the artist’s work, from his formative years (2011-2014) to the more recent installations and the iconography of traditional Sinophonic visual culture (2018-2020).
You can find the book at Richard Koh Fine Art
From the first dialogues with the artist and the gallerist back in 2019, to visiting the artist’s studio and getting to know the artist’s environment in January 2020 – right before the start of the pandemic – it has been an incredible journey of discovery. Both in the real world – getting to Kuala Lumpur to see the works in person – and at my working table, through the process of writing.
So, about the writing. To talk about some artworks you necessarily need to excavate deep truths. And Choo Kuan’s monograph was definitely a work where the pen was really attuned to the spirit. What I mean by that? Let me back off a bit and explain where I come from in terms of books.
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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
