Abdulnasser Gharem’s “The Safe” (2019) is an installation that puts its visitors inside a padded room that recalls the slain journalist’s torture chamber.
Abdulnasser Gharem
A Saudi Artist Pauses in the Face of Politics
Abdulnasser Gharem’s works question initial perceptions and reveal inherent contradictions about Islamic and Arabian art and culture.
Beyond Stereotypes: Art and the New Arab Reality
Arab Express: The Latest Art from the Arab World was a unique and timely exhibition at the Tokyo’s Mori Art Museum. The show was curated by the museum’s Nanjo Fumio and Kondo Kenichi, who also wrote essays for the catalogue, along with excellent contributions from Arab art historians Nada Shabout and Salwa Mikdadi. The exhibition featured 34 Arab artists (including one collective), 11 of them female, and covered ten Arab countries. It included 18 photographers, five video artists, nine artists that use new-media performance and installation, and only three painters.
Saudi Arabia Needs to Talk
JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia — Contemporary art is not the first thing you might think about whenever Saudi Arabia is mentioned. But if you decide to look beyond the veil of political media and stereotypes you will be quite surprised at what you might discover.