'Penelope', by Palestinian artist Raeda Saadeh, draws on the myth of Penelope from the 'Odyssey', who weaves and unweaves a tapestry while her husband is at sea. Courtesy of the artist and Rose Issa Projects
'Penelope', by Palestinian artist Raeda Saadeh, draws on the myth of Penelope from the 'Odyssey', who weaves and unweaves a tapestry while her husband is at sea. Courtesy of the artist and Rose Issa Projects
'Penelope', by Palestinian artist Raeda Saadeh, draws on the myth of Penelope from the 'Odyssey', who weaves and unweaves a tapestry while her husband is at sea. Courtesy of the artist and Rose Issa Projects
'Penelope', by Palestinian artist Raeda Saadeh, draws on the myth of Penelope from the 'Odyssey', who weaves and unweaves a tapestry while her husband is at sea. Courtesy of the artist and Rose Issa P

New gallery devoted to Arab art aims to start a 'different conversation' in the US


Melissa Gronlund
  • English
  • Arabic

A new museum dedicated to Arab arts and culture is about to open its doors in the oldest US think tank devoted to Arab regional affairs. Located in Washington and embedded within the Middle East Institute, the new gallery will occupy about 112 square metres of a refurbished historic building from September, and will focus on rotating shows of Middle Eastern art and photography.

"We're unique because we're a gallery embedded in a think tank," says Kate Seelye, a vice-president of the MEI who oversees the Art and Culture programming strand. "We are very aware of the policy situation in DC and the problems of it, and we very much see the gallery and the show as an opportunity to start a different kind of conversation. 

"Right now, Washington is particularly obsessed with the Middle East as a security problem. They've always viewed the Middle East through a security lens, but now, with the Muslim travel ban and Trump's position on general regional affairs, it's more important than ever to shine a different light on the region and bring new perspectives to audiences that have never encountered much Arab art before."

Rendering showing the courtyard of the new MEI Institute and Art Gallery. Courtesy of MEI
Rendering showing the courtyard of the new MEI Institute and Art Gallery. Courtesy of MEI

The first show has been put together by veteran Arab curator Rose Issa, a well-regarded expert in the field. For the past 15 years Issa has been exploring what she calls "Arabicity", which looks at how Arab artists represent their heritage and identity. Her book on the subject, Arabicity: Contemporary Arab Art, published by Saqi, will also be launched during the MEI's opening festivities

The gallery organisers first saw an iteration of the show at the Beirut Art Fair in 2017 and felt that Issa's approach covered the kind of contextual remit they hope to emphasise in their gallery programming. "The show explores socio-political and aesthetic conditions in the Arab world as seen through the eyes and the artistic vision of Arab artists," says Seelye. "They're reflecting on the world that they're living in, which of course is a very complex one."

The show, Arabicity | Ourouba, is a mix of 17 established Arab artists including Khalil Rabah who lives in Ramallah, Moroccan artist Hassan Hajjaj and the late Egyptian artist Chant Avedissian. Its focus is on artists working in Egypt and the Levant. Some of the works are from Issa's own collection. 

'Mrs Souad Labib', a silkscreen work by the late Chant Avedissian from his famous 'Icons of the Nile' series (1991–2004). Courtesy of the artist, Rose Issa Projects, and a private collection, London
'Mrs Souad Labib', a silkscreen work by the late Chant Avedissian from his famous 'Icons of the Nile' series (1991–2004). Courtesy of the artist, Rose Issa Projects, and a private collection, London

Future exhibitions will include Magnum's Arab Documentary Photography Programme in December, showing work from the project in the US for the first time. ADPP provides funds to Arab photographers to create long-form documentary projects – the results of the 2018 project were seen in Dubai earlier this year at GPP Photo Week at Alserkal Avenue.

As MEI is primarily a think tank, the gallery space will be programmed with an eye to opportunities and audience-broadening. The space has core funding for the next three years to cover staff costs, but will raise funds for each individual exhibition. MEI is also looking to collaborate with Middle East institutions for their programming. 

"The success of this gallery is going to rest on our ability to build strong partnerships globally," says Seelye, who oversees the gallery but will appoint guest curators for each show. "We've been reaching out to every art institute and art leader in the region and in Europe – from The Mosaic Rooms in London and The Palestinian Museum in Ramallah to the Sharjah Art Foundation and the Townhouse Gallery in Egypt – to tell them that we're here, we want to work with you, and if you've got a strong show that you think would work well with a DC audience, then we want to bring that to Washington." 

Seelye, a former reporter, grew up in Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and Syria, and is part of the fifth generation of her family to live in the Middle East. The first generation, in the 1840s, were Protestant missionaries, and her father, diplomat Talcott Williams Seelye, graced the cover of Robert Kaplan's famous book Arabists: The Romance of an American Elite. She joined MEI in 2009 and has been instrumental in reviving its cultural programme, which also includes talks and panel discussions, book launches, and film screenings.

When I think of my time in the region, it is joyous, rich and vibrant – I want to tell that narrative to audiences here

The MEI was given around $20 million (Dh73.4m) from the UAE government in the mid-2010sto renovate its new headquarters, just off Dupont Circle. The think tank, which has no formal relationship with any government entities, aims to inform policy around the Middle East.

“This will be a space of celebration,” says Seelye. “When I think of my time in the region, it is joyous, rich and vibrant – I want to tell that narrative to audiences here.” 

Arabicity / Ourouba is at the MEI Gallery in Washington from Saturday, September 14, until ­Friday, November 22

Match info

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Everton 1 (Calvert-Lewin 65')

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Sheikh Zayed's poem

When it is unveiled at Abu Dhabi Art, the Standing Tall exhibition will appear as an interplay of poetry and art. The 100 scarves are 100 fragments surrounding five, figurative, female sculptures, and both sculptures and scarves are hand-embroidered by a group of refugee women artisans, who used the Palestinian cross-stitch embroidery art of tatreez. Fragments of Sheikh Zayed’s poem Your Love is Ruling My Heart, written in Arabic as a love poem to his nation, are embroidered onto both the sculptures and the scarves. Here is the English translation.

Your love is ruling over my heart

Your love is ruling over my heart, even a mountain can’t bear all of it

Woe for my heart of such a love, if it befell it and made it its home

You came on me like a gleaming sun, you are the cure for my soul of its sickness

Be lenient on me, oh tender one, and have mercy on who because of you is in ruins

You are like the Ajeed Al-reem [leader of the gazelle herd] for my country, the source of all of its knowledge

You waddle even when you stand still, with feet white like the blooming of the dates of the palm

Oh, who wishes to deprive me of sleep, the night has ended and I still have not seen you

You are the cure for my sickness and my support, you dried my throat up let me go and damp it

Help me, oh children of mine, for in his love my life will pass me by. 

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TO A LAND UNKNOWN

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Starring: Mahmoud Bakri, Aram Sabbah, Mohammad Alsurafa

Rating: 4.5/5

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  • Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
  • George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
  • Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
  • Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
MATCH INFO

Day 2 at the Gabba

Australia 312-1 

Warner 151 not out, Burns 97,  Labuschagne 55 not out

Pakistan 240 

Shafiq 76, Starc 4-52