When entering the solo exhibition of Iraqi-Kurdish artist Hayv Kahraman at the Third Line Gallery at Alserkal Avenue, you are faced with a wall painted in washes of lilac.
Jars of torshi — fermented beetroot — line two shelves on the wall. The lilac wash is not paint but the juice of the torshi. Fermented beetroot is a staple part of Middle Eastern cuisine, and jars of varying types of fermented food, such as the ones Kahraman has on display, are not an uncommon sight in home kitchens across the region.
While this installation may feel like an intimate welcome into the space, it would be wrong to assume Kahraman is making a comment on domestic life. It is, in fact, a reference to the chemical makeup of happiness — serotonin to be specific.
Fermented foods are believed to improve mental well-being through the gut by boosting serotonin levels. “Not only do we store trauma in our gut, but we store healing in our gut,” Kahraman tells The National.
“Bacteria is something that we, in our culture here and in the West, deem as dirty, impure. We want to remove these germs, eradicate them from our space, from our bodies. But there are bacteria that produce 97 per cent of serotonin. Serotonin is the hormone that makes us happy.”
Kahraman's fifth solo exhibition at the gallery, entitled Gut Feelings: Part II, is the result of her ongoing scientific research and exploration of how trauma affects the physical body, and how the gut can play a significant role in our healing process.
"When I was a kid, we used to make torshi with my mom and I used to dip our brush and paint with it," she says.
"My mom was very creative... this body of work started when my mom passed away three years ago."
When Kahraman was going through her mother's belongings after her death, she came across one of the last books she read. It covered the study of neurosculpting, the science of rewiring neuro pathways to the brain after trauma.
The book sparked Kahraman's interest in theories of rewiring the brain and healing through the gut. She felt that through the research process, she was "subconsciously and consciously" trying to have a dialogue with her mother who was a naturopath, a practitioner who uses natural remedies to heal the body. She wished she could ask her mother questions such as: "How did they do it in Iraq, Kurdistan? What kind of plants did they pick? How did they heal their bodies? How did they heal their souls?"
Kahraman and her family fled Iraq when she was 10 years old during the Gulf War and sought asylum as refugees in Sweden. Now living in Los Angeles, Kahraman's practice has more generally been an exploration of the refugee experience alongside themes of gender and trauma.
Her figurative style has gained attention over the years for the appearance of a consistent figure through all of her work, including this new collection on show in Dubai. This central figure is dark-haired, fair-skinned, sombre-eyed and set in strong, delicate poses — she is the amalgamation of what Kahraman says she herself has learned and unlearned.
It is a face and style that we recognise, an influence from Arabic miniature illustrations from the 11th century, particularly the manuscripts of the poet Maqamat al Hariri from Basra, Iraq. Yet her gestures, poses and vacant and inviting gaze are strongly reminiscent of the ways figures were painted in the Renaissance period in Italy.
Kahraman, who studied graphic design in Florence, explains that the figure was born as a result of her being programmed or "engulfed in the western aesthetic" of art and what she once believed constituted great art.
“I was completely indoctrinated into that belief and thinking that [western art] is the best thing, and that's what I needed to strive for in order to succeed," she says.
"And that's where she was born, under that place, under a colonial space.”
Kahraman doesn’t reference the Renaissance period in her work as a homage, but instead, it's used as a decoy. It becomes a tool to draw in an audience who understands this specific concept of beauty and harmony in art. And once Kahraman has captured their attention, she breaks that spell, through her subtle use of pictorial elements such as the influence of Arabic and Persian miniatures, Arabic calligraphy and Islamic mosaics that speak to dissonance, division and trauma.
It is, on one hand, a sophisticated subversion and, on the other, a unique visual language that defines Kahraman’s aesthetic.
In Gut Feelings: Part II, audiences see Kahraman's enigmatic female figure in a number of paintings and drawings. Chords, hair-like in some paintings, meat-like in others, come out of open mouths and are intertwined through hair or float. These entanglements connect the figures either to themselves, to each other, or some other omniscient "being", such as three floating eyes.
These intestine-like elements are inspired by Kahraman's research of neuroscience, human immunology and the ability to restructure neural pathways in our brain through gut microbiome, but they also illustrate trauma and the process of healing.
Ultimately, this body of work explores a multitude of ideas that are in equal parts beautiful, playful and unnerving, and yet very much connected stylistically and thematically.
“That's what I found really interesting [during her research], that there's no distinction between my body and my mind,” she says.
“It's all connected. I feel like the microbial world offers that connection. So there are no boundaries.”
Hayv Kahraman’s exhibition, Gut Feelings: Part II, runs at The Third Line Gallery, Alserkal Avenue, until March 24. More information is available at thethirdline.com
In numbers: China in Dubai
The number of Chinese people living in Dubai: An estimated 200,000
Number of Chinese people in International City: Almost 50,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2018/19: 120,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2010: 20,000
Percentage increase in visitors in eight years: 500 per cent
RACE CARD
6.30pm Al Maktoum Challenge Round-1 Group 1 (PA) Dh119,373 (Dirt) 1,600m
7.05pm Handicap (TB) Dh102,500 (D) 1,200m
7.40pm Handicap (TB) Dh105,000 (Turf) 1,800m
8.15pm UAE 1000 Guineas Trial (TB) Dh183,650 (D) 1,400m
9.50pm Handicap (TB) Dh105,000 (D) 1,600m
9.25pm Handicap (TB) Dh95,000 (T) 1,000m
Dr Amal Khalid Alias revealed a recent case of a woman with daughters, who specifically wanted a boy.
A semen analysis of the father showed abnormal sperm so the couple required IVF.
Out of 21 eggs collected, six were unused leaving 15 suitable for IVF.
A specific procedure was used, called intracytoplasmic sperm injection where a single sperm cell is inserted into the egg.
On day three of the process, 14 embryos were biopsied for gender selection.
The next day, a pre-implantation genetic report revealed four normal male embryos, three female and seven abnormal samples.
Day five of the treatment saw two male embryos transferred to the patient.
The woman recorded a positive pregnancy test two weeks later.
Pox that threatens the Middle East's native species
Camelpox
Caused by a virus related to the one that causes human smallpox, camelpox typically causes fever, swelling of lymph nodes and skin lesions in camels aged over three, but the animal usually recovers after a month or so. Younger animals may develop a more acute form that causes internal lesions and diarrhoea, and is often fatal, especially when secondary infections result. It is found across the Middle East as well as in parts of Asia, Africa, Russia and India.
Falconpox
Falconpox can cause a variety of types of lesions, which can affect, for example, the eyelids, feet and the areas above and below the beak. It is a problem among captive falcons and is one of many types of avian pox or avipox diseases that together affect dozens of bird species across the world. Among the other forms are pigeonpox, turkeypox, starlingpox and canarypox. Avipox viruses are spread by mosquitoes and direct bird-to-bird contact.
Houbarapox
Houbarapox is, like falconpox, one of the many forms of avipox diseases. It exists in various forms, with a type that causes skin lesions being least likely to result in death. Other forms cause more severe lesions, including internal lesions, and are more likely to kill the bird, often because secondary infections develop. This summer the CVRL reported an outbreak of pox in houbaras after rains in spring led to an increase in mosquito numbers.
U19 WORLD CUP, WEST INDIES
UAE group fixtures (all in St Kitts)
- Saturday 15 January: UAE beat Canada by 49 runs
- Thursday 20 January: v England
- Saturday 22 January: v Bangladesh
UAE squad:
Alishan Sharafu (captain), Shival Bawa, Jash Giyanani, Sailles
Jaishankar, Nilansh Keswani, Aayan Khan, Punya Mehra, Ali Naseer, Ronak Panoly,
Dhruv Parashar, Vinayak Raghavan, Soorya Sathish, Aryansh Sharma, Adithya
Shetty, Kai Smith
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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